We're Number One: Bush and Criminal Justice Excerpted from Shrub by Molly Ivans and Lou DuBose Random House 2000 Texas' bloodthirsty criminal justice officials. . . . Texas, where liberals are required to carry visas and compassion is virtually illegal.... A state perfectly willing to execute the retarded and railroad the innocent ... by far the most backward state in the nation when it comes to capital punishment.... Texas has a fetish for capital punishment. -Bob Herbert, The New York Times Maybe he was a little overexcited about the state of criminal justice in Texas. But then, we've earned it. You want tough on crime? We're number one. You want a fair trial? There could be a problem. Our reputation is worldwide, indisputable. - Texas has approximately 147,000 people in its state prisons, the largest prison system on the planet Earth. Counting those in the state's Jails and on parole, there are 545,000 people in the system. For every 100,000 adult Texans, 700 of them are in prison. The national average is 452 per 100,000 population.
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