Another possible reason for Bush not trying to commute any sentences is that he’s giving the Texans what they want, and the people of Texas like executions. In the recent Democratic primary for governor in Texas, one candidate, Mr. Mark White, put out a gruesome commercial in which he strode triumphantly past photographs of the people who had been executed while he was governor in 1983-87. He still lost. However, Jim Mattox, one of the two Democrats who competed in the run-off election for the party’s nomination on April 10th, tried in similar vein to take credit for executions even though, as Texas’s attorney-general, he is involved with civil cases, not criminal ones. When his rival, Mrs. Ann Richards, received unwanted support from a prison newspaper, the Mattox campaign quickly adopted the slogan: Jim Mattox. There are no endorsements for him on death row” (Brown 2).
From a political standpoint, you must conclude that the death penalty is legal, according to the constitution and state law, when a prisoner has stood trial and been convicted. However, one must question the way in which people are being convicted in Texas. With the highest number of people on death row, and by far the largest number
of executions, it is a likely conclusion that the system in Texas needs improvement. George Bush has done little to correct the loop-holes in his states system, but there has been little call to do so from the people he governs. Not until now, with the presidency on the line, must Bush, along with Texas, face up to their record and do something about it.
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