"In politics, nothing happens by accident; if it happens, it was planned that way."
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt,
former, late President of the United States of America

To help you better understand this report, I start with Supreme Court rulings on capital punishment in the past, on up to the present. Please keep in mind that aside from United States Constitutional amendments and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, the laws that are cited are the laws of the state of Texas. Each state within the United States does interpret and apply the laws differently.

In this report, you will find information on the appointment of counsel (lawyers) for indigent defendants prior to capital trails, the Board of Pardons and Paroles and its powers, and information on who is allowed to attend an execution. The topics in this report will be in sections, and will include brief commentary. The purpose is to supply the necessary information, and then let you reach your own conclusions based on what you've read.

In the United States, you are either Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, the majority or the minority, religious or not. Hopefully, your conclusions can be reached objectively. Before you begin, I ask these simple questions: Are you for or against capital punishment? Regardless of your answer, why? Are your reasons based on what you know or what you've heard? Has anyone ever asked you if you were for or against capital punishment? There are issues concerning the death penalty that go beyond morality, beyond justice. Just because the popular opinion suggests that capital punishment be allowed, does that make it right?

Hopefully, this report will be of some help to you in these areas of interest. I bid you well.

Charles A. Nealy

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