Texas Still The Most Bloodthirsty State

Even though hundreds of innocent people have been freed from the nation's prisons in the last few years, and several dozen in the state of Texas alone, the state of Texas continues to kill people in the name of the people of Texas. And last year the state once again finished first in the nation in the number of people they killed. Here are the states that executed the most people in 2011:

Nationwide...............43
Texas...............13
Alabama...............6
Ohio...............5
Georgia...............4
Arizona...............4
Oklahoma...............2
Florida...............2
Mississippi...............2
Five other states had one execution each.

The good news is that the number of executions has been getting smaller each year -- both nationwide and in Texas. Here ate the numbers for both for the last few years (with Texas executions in parentheses):

2011...............43 (13)
2010...............46 (17)
2009...............52 (24)

But there is bad news as well. Texas has six executions scheduled for the first three months of 2012 -- a rate that could mean the state will reverse that downward trend this year, and possibly execute more people than in either of the last two years. And this is in spite of the fact that it was learned last year that Texas had executed an innocent man (Cameron Willingham).

Most states would have suspended executions after learning an innocent man had been executed, but the governor of Texas had a different reaction. Rick Perry just did his best to cover it up. He's running for president and decided if he suspended executions (even for a little while), it would make him look weak on crime to the Republican Party's teabagger base. Getting votes is more important to Perry than the idea that another innocent man might be executed.

Texas is undoubtably the most bloodthirsty state in the nation, and it looks like those in state leadership positions want to keep that dubious title.