Episode #311: My Bookcase {4}-Capitalizing Thy Punishment

A kindly heads up to my readers: I rarely talk about hot button issues on this blog, simply because of the amount of static I would receive and the fallout afterwards. This is one of those hot button issues that has divided the nation into two distinct camps: pro-criminal/anti-victim and pro-victim/anti-criminal, and you can probably guess which political party today is the former and which is the latter.

I am a very strong proponent of capital punishment. Always have been, always will be. I always believe that if you commit a heinous crime that involved multiple people or certain types of people becoming a fond distant memory for others, then you should suffer the ultimate consequence. This philosophy has made me a very usual person in my very blue state of Connecticut, as the pro-criminal/anti-victim Democratic party eliminated the death penalty in the early 2010's.

I won't go further into the weeds or how broken the system is and other assorted tangents, because this post is not about the (mostly) factual rantings of a "senior citizen". This post is about a book whose topic of choice is Texas's death row.

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I'm not entirely sure when I had picked up this book beyond narrowing it down to the late 2000's. I've always been interested on how death rows work in the states that do have them, so I figured, 'why not?'.

The book itself is an interesting read, as it first spends a few pages talking about how the death row in Texas is run; the rules and regulations, and the like (fun fact, no tobacco products are allowed with your final meal). The rest of the book is set up encyclopedia style in chronological order (but not in the way that you think).

In short, each entry contains the following:

1. The name of the criminal(a);
2. Brief synopsis of the case;
3. Brief bio of the inmate;
4. The amount of time spent on death row;
5. Last meal, if any;
6. Last statement, if any*.

*There is an appendix for some of the inmates who gave very lengthy (usually one to two book pages) statements.

I should note that this book covers the modern era of the Texas Death Row, when the lethal injection was the standard method of execution, starting in December 1982 through the publication date of this book,  April 2007.

I will say that this book is a good read, although not terribly enjoyable for the average person or even true crime aficionados. People who are into criminal justice or social justice may find it a very good read, as well as those who enjoy reading about the history of capital punishment in the U.S.

This book does not sugarcoat the heinousness of the crimes the inmates were convicted of, and the author presents a well balanced look in at capital punishment in Texas.

As I stated in the beginning, there's a lot of things wrong with how capital punishment sentences are carried out, and this post isn't about the end result of a deep dive through the internet (among other things), just a book review/recommendation for those who are curious about the death penalty and how it's applied in the U.S., with a specific focus on Texas.

Thank you for coming to my blog today, your feedback will be greatly appreciated.

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