es”, which are merely outside areas near their cell block (Marquart 139). It has also been debated that whether it is morally right to execute a woman, rather than a man. The laws in Texas concerning the death penalty do not mention gender at all. The reason one may not see very many women on death row is that they rarely commit a crime punishable by death. Some of these would be: Murder of a peace officer, murder during a felony, murder for hire, murder during a prison escape, and murder of more than one person. A lover’s quarrel that erupts in a murder is not a capital offense. Until recently, no woman had been executed in Texas since 1863. There are currently seven women on death row in Texas. Three of them have been there for more than ten years. Another reason for few women having been executed is that the governors used to have the power to commute a sentence (Curtis 1).For a century or more, governors in Texas commuted sentences regularly. Sometimes they had very good reasons, other times little reason at all. From the late nineteenth century until modern times, Texas governors commuted 20 percent of the executions in the state, including every execution set for a woman. However, today the rules have changed. When the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, it came back with certain limitations. In 1983 a constitutional amendment put restrictions on the governor's power to commute a sentence. The process now follows a system close to this: Near the end of the appeals process, the original judge sets a date for the execution. The date is then sent to the governor and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Two thirds of the board of 18 must recommend to commute the sentence. If the board votes to commute, the recommendation is sent to the governor, who can then chose to commute the prisoner or not. Without the approval of the board, all the governor can do is grant a 30-day stay of execution (Curtis 3). George Bush has ...
