Press Release from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty:

"The state of Texas is scheduled to carry out the 800th execution in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1976 Gregg vs. Georgia decision cleared tthe way for the continuation of capital punishment.

Scheduled for execution at 6 p.m. Central Standard Time Tuesday is Rex Mays, originally from Harris County, Texas. If Mays' execution proceeds, it will mark the 51st execution in the United States this year and the 26th in Texas. An additional 12 executions are scheduled in the United States this year, including eight in Texas.

Steven W. Hawkins, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, noted that were it not for Texas, the United States would see a decline in executions in 2002 for the third consecutive year. He said Texas has accounted for 282, or 35.4 percent, of the executions carried out since 1976.

"If you look at where executions are carried out, it is clear that the death penalty is largely a southern phenomenon in the United States," Hawkins said. "It also is a phenomenon largely reserved for people of color and people who do not have access to qualified attorneys."

Hawkins said that following Texas, the top five states that have carried out the most executions are Virginia (86), Missouri (58), Oklahoma (52) and Florida (51). The next five states are Georgia (30), South Carolina (28), Louisiana (27), Alabama (24) and Arkansas (24). These ten states account for 662 of the 799 executions to date, or well over 75 percent.