As Texas approaches its 500th execution

Texas is now on track to execute it's 500th death row inmate later this month.

Professor Rick Halperin, director of SMU's Embrey Human Rights Program and a longtime opponent of the death penalty, recently discussed the upcoming milestone with KLIF radio. Listen to his discussion.

Kimberly McCarthy is scheduled to be executed on June 26, 2013, becoming the 500th person executed in Texas since the reinstatement of the death penalty some 37 years ago. She was convicted of the 1997 murder of her neighbor, 71-year-old retired college professor Dorothy Booth of Lancaster, Texas.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that the death penalty was constitutional. Texas conducted its first execution after the ruling in 1982 and is now approaching its 500th since the reinstatement.

Related Link:

• The Dallas Morning News: Lancaster woman to become Texas’ 500th modern execution