Summary: Missouri may not be performing the most executions per year but when comparing it the population of the state, they are at number one.
Texas has always been known for their love of the death penalty. The first lethal injection for the country was done in Texas in 1982. Texas has executed 528 men and women since the start of lethal injections, more than the next eight states combined.
For the last two years, Missouri has been performing nearly one execution per month, placing them ahead of Texas in terms of execution per capita. Last year, both states executed 10 people, however Texas has four times the population of Missouri. This year, Missouri has only executed five while Texas is at 10.
Missouri is already under a lot of scrutiny for the problems in Ferguson and now their access to the steady supply of pentobarbital when other states can’t seem to get enough of it is being addressed. The common lethal injection drug has a short shelf life and many pharmacies are not willing to produce it.
Others believe that Missouri may have set up their own small pharmacy to produce the drug. Either way, when a state has an attorney general and governor that support the death penalty, there is a higher likelihood that the death penalty will be pushed. The governor has only commuted one sentence in his six and a half years.
Source: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/08/31/in-the-execution-business-missouri-is-surging
Photo: huffingtonpost.com