AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
Press Release
Monday, October 19, 2009

Amnesty International Welcomes Comments from Former Texas Governor Mark White on Reconsideration of Death Penalty

(Washington) -- Laura Moye, Director of Amnesty International USA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, issued the following comments today in response to media reports that former Texas Gov. Mark White said the death penalty in Texas may need to be reconsidered:

"The evolution of Governor White’s views on the death penalty in Texas is welcomed news, and it mirrors the change that is taking place nationwide. As advances in DNA and forensic science have revealed the extent to which our criminal justice system is prone to error, judges, jurors, the public, and even some politicians, have begun to question the wisdom of resorting to capital punishment. Those who once supported the death penalty are now significantly less sure.

Nationally, and in Texas, the annual number of death sentences is as low as in the late 1970s when the penalty was just being reinstated. In Harris County, which has produced over 100 of our country’s post-reinstatement executions, there were no death sentences at all last year.

Currently in the Willingham case, there is strong forensic evidence that Texas executed an innocent man for a crime that never happened; this case illustrates dramatically that skepticism about the death penalty is -- and always has been -- warranted.

As Governor White suggests, we can protect the safety of the public and eliminate the “unnecessary possibility that an innocent person would be executed in Texas” simply by doing away with the death penalty. ""

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and woArks to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150, strimel@aiusa.org
Please visit www.amnestyusa.org for more information.

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