Executions Resume Tomorrow in Texas

Even though the country is finding capital punishment more distasteful (PDF), tomorrow Texas will execute the first person in 2009. There are 26 executions scheduled from January through May of this year. Twenty-three executions are set in Southern states, with Ohio being the only Northern state pushing the needle.

Last year 37 men were executed, all but the two in Ohio being lethally injected in the South. While the number of executions may rise this year with no Supreme Court ordered moratorium anticipated, the geographic disparity of who dies being based largely on where the crime was committed will certainly continue.

Tomorrow’s state-killing of Curtis Moore will take place in Huntsville, Texas. Nationally it will be the 1,137th, for the Lone Star State it will be number 424 since 1982. For Gov. Rick Perry, it will be the 185th execution, far exceeding the 152 executions Gov. George Bush approved in his tenure.

Last year, four men were exonerated from death row. Of the 130 death row exonerations, 79 have occurred in the South.

If there really is to be a creation of a new south, we have to stop using the old, failing capital punishment system.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post stated that Moore’s execution was scheduled for Tuesday, January 13. The execution is scheduled for Wednesday, January 14. The post has been amended to reflect this correction.