Synopsis:
Marcel Theroux travels through the Lone Star state to understand
what frontier justice really means.
Throughout the 1980s and early 90s Texas had the highest crime
rates of any state in the US. George W Bush became Governor in 1994
on a promise that he would crack crime in the state. His approach
was to get tough on crime; he tripled the number of prison beds,
lengthened prison sentences, said goodbye to parole and hello to an
increasing use of the death penalty.
Crime rates halved. The state now boasts the highest incarceration
and execution rates in the world and Bush's methods became known as
The Texas Solution. Those behind the solution insist it's about
positive rehabilitation and frontier spirit; is it something we
should be learning from?
Synopsis:
Marcel Theroux travels through the Lone Star state to understand
what frontier justice really means.
Throughout the 1980s and early 90s Texas had the highest crime
rates of any state in the US. George W Bush became Governor in 1994
on a promise that he would crack crime in the state. His approach
was to get tough on crime; he tripled the number of prison beds,
lengthened prison sentences, said goodbye to parole and hello to an
increasing use of the death penalty.
Crime rates halved. The state now boasts the highest incarceration
and execution rates in the world and Bush's methods became known as
The Texas Solution. Those behind the solution insist it's about
positive rehabilitation and frontier spirit; is it something we
should be learning from?