What Is The Death Penalty Or Capital Punishment?

The death penalty or capital punishment is a constant source of controversy and divided opinion. It is the punishment of death given to criminals who commit severe crimes. In order to receive the death penalty, an individual needs to commit capital crimes or capital offences which include treason, perjury, kidnapping, rape, terrorism, and murder. The primary method of execution is through a lethal injection but most states in the U.S. allow electrocution as well. After being convicted of a capital crime, the criminal is put on the death row. The Bureau of Justice Statistics website defines death row as “incarcerated persons who have been sentenced to death and are awaiting execution”. The rate of inmates on death row in the United States is very high but it is particularly high in the state of Texas. According to the Death Penalty Information center, the current number of inmates on death row in Texas is two-hundred and seventy one. Also, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice records that twenty-eight percent of the death row inmates are White out of which fifty percent are female and twenty-seven percent are male. The most current inmate on death row is Eric Williams.
Eric Lyle Williams is one of the most recent inmates on the Texas death row. …show more content…
Kim Williams, wife of Eric Williams, testified to being a part of the plot. She accompanied him in his car as the driver and openly confessed that her husband, Eric Williams, shot and killed Mr. Hasse and the McLellands. Although she did not get sentenced to death, she did get charged with capital murder and has to spend forty years in jail. Then, the case was taken to the court in Rockwall where the jury took ninety minutes to convict Eric Williams of killing Mark Hasse and the McLellands. On December 4th 2014, Eric Williams was charged with capital murder and has been put on the death row to be executed by lethal injection in the coming