Killing people, sad to say, is like most anything else: The more you do it, the better you get.
Since Oklahoma brutally botched an execution last month, the country has turned its attention again to the debate over whether the death penalty constitutes “cruel and unusual” punishment. So all eyes were on Texas this week as it prepared for what was expected to be No. 516. Although the convicted, Robert Campbell, was granted a stay of execution two hours before he was scheduled to be injected with lethal poison, the proceedings leading up to the last-minute postponement were a reminder of how adept Texas has become at sending inmates through death row—holding up what the New York Times characterized as the “
gold standard” of proficiency in capital punishment.
As a law professor in Texas who, along with my team, has represented well over 100 death row inmates over the past 20 years, I am often asked why Texas executes so many people. This is what I say: Texas executes so many people because it executes so many people. I’m not being flip. What I mean is simply that killing people is like most anything else; the more you do it, the better you get. If killing people were like playing the violin, Texas would have been selling out Carnegie Hall years ago.
To understand how the adage that practice makes perfect applies to the execution of a prisoner, it is helpful to understand the stages and legal intricacies of a death penalty case. The law surrounding the death penalty is complex and often must be dealt with swiftly, as court deadlines and execution dates loom. The more familiar lawyers, government administrators, prison wardens, executioners and the many other relevant actors are with the process, the better they are at seeing it all the way through until its lethal end.
Source: David R. Dow, Politico Magazine, May 15, 2014
