TX Observer: “In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional on the grounds that it was cruel and unusual punishment, leading to a nationwide lull in executions—that is, until Texas pioneered a new, less-dramatic method with the veneer of a medical procedure that the courts could stomach: lethal injection. Since 1976, the year the Supreme Court approved new sentencing guidelines for judges and juries considering death sentences, Texas has been at the center of the revival of the death penalty in the United States, responsible for more than 500 of the roughly 1,500 executions here. Even with death sentences across the country now at historic lows, thanks in large part to states giving juries the option to sentence someone to life in prison without the possibility of parole, most years Texas continues to execute and send more people to death row than any other state.”