An Extreme Outlier
Race and the Death Penalty in Tarrant County, Texas’s Third-Largest County
Summary
Even compared to the rest of Texas—historically the death penalty capital of the United States— Tarrant County is an extreme outlier in terms of how aggressively its District Attorney’s Office seeks the death penalty. An Extreme Outlier: Race and the Death Penalty in Tarrant County, the Third Largest County in Texas, delves into how Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth and part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, is a major driver of the death penalty in Texas—and nationwide.
At a time when most jurisdictions in Texas and around the country have turned away from the death penalty, Tarrant County prosecutors continue to seek the ultimate punishment at a remarkable rate that disproportionately impacts people from racial and ethnic minority groups. It is time for the Tarrant County DA’s Office to stop harming communities of color by ending its racist practices and focusing on policies that promote public safety for everyone, and in this report, TDS offers four key recommendations for addressing these concerns.
Key Findings From The Report
- Of the 431 capital murder cases charged in Tarrant County over a recent 20-year period, 35% resulted in something other than a homicide conviction.
- Another 10% of defendants got no jail time whatsoever, either because they were sentenced to probation, the DA’s Office dropped the charges, the grand jury rejected the DA’s request to indict, or they were acquitted at trial.
- 67% of the people charged with capital murder who ended up receiving no jail time were Black.
- Eight of the nine people whom a grand jury failed to even indict for capital murder despite the initial charges were Black, and one was Latino.
- All seven people acquitted of capital murder by a jury were Black.
