|
Year of Reenactment
(since 1972 suspension) |
1974 | |
|
Year of First Execution
(since reenactment) |
1982 | |
|
History
|
1836-1922: hanging |
|
|
Current Method
|
Lethal injection | |
 |
|
|
Texas has life without parole. A jury decides the sentence. The Governor needs a favorable recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles in order to be able to grant clemency. The governor is not obligated to follow the recommendation of the Board. The Governor also has the power to grant a thirty day reprieve.
As of September 2012, Texas has conducted over 35% of the 1,304 executions in the United States. Only two commutations of a death sentence for humanitarian reasons have been granted since the death penalty was reinstated: Henry Lee Lucas in 1998 and Kenneth Foster in 2007. Texas has had 12 exonerations.