Why is Texas so soft on crime, especially murder?

Question

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/txcrime.htm

Check that out - Texas's murder rate for 2005 was 6.2 per 100,000 people - an INCREASE over 2004. The national rate in 2005 was only 5.6 per 100,000 people. Texas's murder rate is consistently above the national average. This means that you are more likely to be murdered in Texas than in other states.

Why is Texas so soft on crime? Why doesn't Rick Perry just crack down on crime and murder, and reduce these outrageously high murder rates? Is he too incompetent?

Also, let me head off one "objection" right now - IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW OFTEN TEXAS USES THE DEATH PENALTY. The statistics are all that matter. And the stats make it clear that Texas is soft on crime.

EDIT: Someone wrote: "Go down there and screw around with Texas justice for a while.."

Actually, Texas's only solves about 2/3rds of the murders committed in the state. That means that 1/3rd of murderers 'mess with Texas' and get away with it.

Again, don't buy the hype. Texas is not tough on crime. Just look at the stats. The stats don't lie. Do you really think a state that was 'tough on crime' would have a murder rate that is CONSISTENTLY ABOVE the national average?

Toughness on crime begins at the preschool level, with good education. That makes it 'tough' on crime's ability to flourish.

Get it?

EDIT: Someone wrote: "Besides, statistics are always slanted toward the the special interest group 'reporting' them."

Ah, yes, I didn't realize that the FBI and the Texas Justice Department want to make the murder rate look worse than it actually is! Thanks for your insights, dear.

Answer 1

There are other socio-economic factors that come into play besides any supposed "soft" stance on the part of law enforcement. On the contrary, Texas is notorious when it comes to law enforcement with its "get tough" approach to crime. However, the state has done very little when addressing the root causes of such crime, such as poverty, rates of drug abuse and alcoholism, higher-than-average unemployment in certain cities and counties, lack of adequate education and awareness programs for at-risk youth, etc. Simply put, sweeping this problem under the rug does not do anything to actually fix the problem.

I've read in a book recently that Texans, and southerners in general, are more likely to resort to violent behavior to deal with conflict than those from other areas of the country. Read David M Buss's "The Murderer Next Door: why the Mind is Designed to Kill." for a more detailed description.

Answer 2

Texas is not smart on crime. Yet. Texas now has life without parole on the books and Texans can follow the lead of other states where there has been a robust debate about the death penalty.

You don't have to condone brutal crimes or want the criminals who commit them avoid a harsh punishment to ask whether the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and whether it risks killing innocent people.

What about the risk of executing innocent people?
124 people on death rows have been released with evidence of their innocence.

Doesn't DNA keep new cases like these from happening?
DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides and can’t guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

Doesn't the death penalty prevent others from committing murder?
No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in states that do not.

So, what are the alternatives?
Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure and swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.

But isn't the death penalty cheaper than keeping criminals in prison?
The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, mostly because of the legal process. When the death penalty is a possible sentence, extra costs mount up even before trial, continuing through the uniquely complicated trial (actually 2 separate trials, one to decide guilt and the second to decide the punishment) in death penalty cases, and appeals.

What about the very worst crimes?
The death penalty isn’t reserved for the “worst of the worst,” but rather for defendants with the worst lawyers. When is the last time a wealthy person was sentenced to death, let alone executed??

Doesn't the death penalty help families of murder victims?
Not necessarily. Murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

So, why don't we speed up the process?
Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. If the process is speeded up we are sure to execute an innocent person.

EDIT for kj - take a look at the statistics from the department of justice at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/offenses/standard_links/regional_estimates.html

This is a .gov website

Answer 3

When did the folks come into Texas from Katrina?

The number of crimes commited has nothing to do with wether or not a state is 'soft' on crime.

Statistics 'prove' nothing. You can make statistics show anything you want depending on how you read them. i.e. The average person in the US has slightly less than one testicle according to statistics. Almost 100% of aircraft related deaths happen at ground level. Both of those stats are true and cannot be refuted. But what do they really tell you? Not much.

Whether the rate is 5.6 or 6.2 deaths per 100,000 it still says the odds are very good you won't be murdered. You are more likely to be murdered if you live in a big city than if you live in the country. Does that mean big cities are softer on crime than rural areas? Maybe all the mayors of big cities are incompetent? More liberals live in big cities than in rural areas. Could it be liberals are really more violent than they say they are? Maybe it has nothing to do with the state or the city or the mayor or liberals. Maybe it's the people and their living conditions.

Why don't we move everyone to the country? That makes more sense than blaming Rick Perry.

Answer 4

I do not think we are soft on crime. We just have an awful lot of idiots who live here that have no ethics. Gang activity is the predominant reason behind most of the murders, and it is blacks killing blacks, and hispanics killing hispanics, and whites killing whites usually. As for the remark about prosecuting blacks and letting whites go? How about the race crime two years ago that involved two white youths who viciously attacked a hispanic youth. Only in their late teens and one got life in prison even though the boy didn't die, and the other might as well be in there for life because he will be an old man when he gets out. When you read or hear the saying "Don't Mess With Texas," it isn't only talking about the littering. Being a law abiding citizen and having a license to own a gun does not cause the crime rate to be high. The thugs who are doing the killing do not have a license to own a gun.

We have a white collar crime being tried right now committed by a high ranking college official. If she is found guilty, she will get life in prison. Doesn't sound too soft to me. Enron executives also got 10-20 years in prison for their part of what they did to Enron and it's investors.

Answer 5

Just because crime is high doesn't mean they are soft on crime...Don't you know the difference? Law enforcement doesn't control crime...You sure have some crazy Anglo notions...

Have you ever lived in Texas? Ain't no tougher, "no nonsense" Law enforcement State in the nation. Don't believe me? Go down there and screw around with Texas justice for a while....

EDIT: 2/3 compared to other states which are averaging what? and the nature of the majority of murders in Texas take place by what? Do you know how hard it is or to what length they go to investigate Gang shootings? Those are Gang Crimes. Those are Class crimes. What other crime categories make up the balance of the crime pie percentile? I have lived in Texas and I have lived in almost every other State as well as Mexico, different Countries in Europe, Canada and elsewhere. I speak three languages and at my age. life experience and academic achievement, I believe I know what I am talking about.


EDIT 2: GET IT ????

EDIT 3: Never look at Stats except as a atarting point. Stats always lie. They are only as good as the source information and that is always dubious depending on the motives and credibility of the source. I worked in Government. And you bet your *** they will always, always ,always paint the picture that they want the public to see. Federal Law enforcement is famously Notorious for that. That is why I have always used Federal Law Figures for nothing but Toilet paper. You need to wise up. And don't ever call me Dear again. I don't nlike that sexist, disrespectful, Condescending garbage.

Things are not always as they appear to the public. Especially when Congressional Federal Funding for Law Enforcement Allocation is involved.

Answer 6

You're obviously not looking at the right statistics. Besides, statistics are always slanted toward the the special interest group 'reporting' them. PLUS, you can't believe everything you find at a www. anything.com. For believable sites, make sure it is a .gov, or a .org, and not a .com.

Texas is not soft on crime. Texas has the most executions of just about any state in the U.S., much to the chagrin of the leftists. Check out the Texas prison system website sometime. It tells you how many people are incarcerated, and how many are on death row.

Answer 7

Oh really. Texas doesn't know how to solve murders? Why don't you come down here and see if you can get away with one. Better yet, come screw with our state troopers. Half the time you won't even need the death penalty when they get through with you.
Did it also occur to your poor remedial brain, that next to Alaska Texas is the largest state??? I don't think I even need to mention the huge population. Even your little website posted, it makes absolutely no sense to where your thoughts are coming from. If you want to make a point against the death penalty, pick on another state. Texas practically has death row inmates on a conveyor belt, with far less appeal options. Your entire post is absolutely ridiculous.

Answer 8

Your conclusion is incorrect. But perhaps you were purposely making the case to show how foolish it is There are four approaches to the death penalty. The states that do not have the death penalty, the states have very limited death penalty, the states that have the death penalty but only under extreme circumstances i.e. killing a prison guard by a convicted murderer who is on a life sentence. Then there is Texas! And their murder rate is so high, so Texas is really dealing with the law. The Texas Supreme Court upheld a death penalty where the defense attorney slept through some of the trial.

Answer 9

Texas is generally considered extremely tough on crime.

I don't think murder rate is really an accurate estimate of crime. Texas has very large areas of depressed urban squalor. The result is vast areas of at or near-poverty. Crime is much more likely to pop up there.

Texas is filled with mandatory sentences for all sorts of high-class misdeamenors (in other states) and felonies. In particular, Texas is VERY tough on drug crime and DUI's.

Answer 10

Did you know you can shoot to kill if any comes on you property and walk away. This is some hard on car repossers. Texas was born on the vigilante code. At one time there was no law at all. Thus was created the texas ranger all families had to at one time or another serve as a ranger.There's was a no trial lynching type of justice. This could no doubt be an under line type of mentality. I am quite sure there are no gun laws to this day its a god given right to own and carry a weapon. peraderm working