This chapter describes the cultural and social context in which the research was conducted. First, it outlines the death penalty trial system in Texas since Furman v. Georgia (1972), comparing it to procedures used in other states. Texas employs a “special issue” framework for capital sentencing, while most states weigh aggravating versus mitigating evidence. This difference has major implications for how capital jurors handle their decisions. The chapter then examines the death penalty in Texas and the United States as an anomaly across the globe. It also uses a Texas life-verdict case as its own kind of anomaly to explore why Texas is so deeply penetrated by death penalty support. Last, the chapter outlines the ethnographic and linguistic methodologies used in the research.