Make sure your legislator knows that you are a constituent. Your communication will stand out and demand more attention if they know that you are a constituent. If you call the office, make sure they take down your home address and be sure to include it in any written correspondence. Be brief. When composing your communication, remember to be brief, concise, and neat — get to your point right away. Always remember to check your spelling and grammar before sending it. If you are leaving a phone message, be brief and concise.
Convey the personal impact of this issue. By bringing the impact of the issue to life for your legislators, you will give them a powerful reason to support you. Know the facts. Legislators are required to take positions on many different issues. You may find that your legislators lack important details. Your role is to help educate them and their staff members by sharing information that demonstrates why this issue is so critical.
If you do not know the answer to a question, tell them you will get back with them with an answer and do it! Develop an ongoing relationship. Use this communication as an opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship with your legislators and their staff members.
Your communication should clearly express an interest in maintaining an ongoing dialogue with legislators and keeping the door open for future opportunities to work together or communicate. Summarize your thoughts. Send a thank-you note and any follow-up information that may have been requested during your meeting or conversation.
Complete the Legislator Tracking Sheet. Available online. Counties with larger budgets have greater capacity to seek the death penalty than those with smaller budgets.
Consequently, similar crimes that occur in different counties can lead to vastly different charges and sentences. The exorbitant cost of death penalty trials has caused some county commissioners to increase taxes and withhold employee raises.
Some district attorneys are not seeking death in capital cases because of the cost to their counties. The death penalty is arbitrarily and unfairly administered by the government. The decision to seek the death penalty rests solely with the district attorney in each county. Only four counties in Texas have imposed more than one death sentence in the last five years. The quality of legal counsel provided to indigent defendants often is grossly inadequate. The death penalty carries the irreversible risk of executing an innocent person.
Thirteen individuals have been exonerated from death row in Texas due to evidence of their wrongful conviction. There have been more than death row exonerations nationwide. Flaws in cases frequently are identified on the eve of scheduled executions. The death penalty does not deter crime. A national poll found police chiefs ranked the death penalty last among ways to reduce violent crime.
A report from the National Research Council determined none of the research on deterrence over the last 30 years should be considered useful or informative in assessing whether the death penalty has any impact on homicide rates. Public support for the death penalty is declining. New voices are calling for repeal of the death penalty, including former Texas district attorneys, former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judges, religious leaders, and conservatives.
New death sentences in Texas have numbered in the single digits in nine of the last ten years. District attorneys are seeking fewer death sentences and opting instead for Life in Prison Without the Possibility of Parole. Since , juries have rejected the death penalty in nearly one-third of the cases in which prosecutors sought a death verdict.
Borris Miles District Sarah Eckhardt District John Whitmire District Nathan Johnson District Joan Huffman District Lois Kolkhorst District Roland Gutierrez District Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa District Judith Zaffirini District Brian Birdwell District Royce West District Dawn Buckingham District Donna Campbell District Eddie Lucio, Jr. District Charles Perry District Drew Springer District Kel Seliger District Additional Resources Full Directory View a comprehensive list of Texas' 31 State Senators, including their office addresses, phone numbers, and the counties they represent.
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