On October 22, Students for a Just Society collaborated with the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) to host a dialogue with DPIC Executive Director Robin M. Maher. The conversation was moderated by JLC Senior Professorial Lecturer Jason Fabrikant and was followed by an audience Q&A session. The event took place in the Butler Board Room and was well attended.
DPIC is a non-profit organization primarily focused on collecting, analyzing, and circulating information about capital punishment to the public. They do not take a position on abolition of the death penalty, but they offer criticism of its applications. The night’s conversation began with a discussion of the Lethal Election Report published this year by DPIC. The report centers on the various roles elections play in the death penalty’s implementation and continued existence.
As noted by Robin Maher, professed support of the death penalty can offer a simple and easy response for politicians being called upon to be tough on crime. The influence of external considerations on officials is evidenced by the increase in clemencies granted by governors when they are not campaigning, as well as the harsher penalties sought when an official is running for office as opposed to in a non-election year. The United States is an atypical country in that it elects local prosecutors and many judges, providing multiple levels at which unrelated influences can impact the sentencing decisions made in cases. The pressures on elected officials during campaigns and re-election processes evidently play a role in their actions regarding the death penalty, however, Maher notes that there is hope for the future of this relationship.
Maher emphasized that substantial shifts in public opinion have been taking place, such as the drop in overall public support for the death penalty from 80% to 53%. In more specific polling questions, the public also shows a general preference for alternatives to the death penalty. She also noted the power that the simple fact of the death penalty’s existence has on shaping the narrative and public view of the penalty; with capital punishment on the table, life without parole becomes the next best option and an almost positive outcome in comparison, despite effectively being a death sentence itself. There has also been a relatively consistent decrease in the number of executions in the past twenty years, and despite the appearance of some recent upticks, the public sentiment is evidently increasingly unsupportive.
Maher also discussed the report’s focus on the standard of “arbitrariness.” This verbiage stems from Justice Brennan’s concurring opinion in a 1972 Supreme Court case in which he stated that “the State must not arbitrarily inflict a severe punishment,” supporting a push for more clarity in the guidelines surrounding capital punishment. This condemnation of a sufficient legal explanation for death penalty usage conflicts with its often racist implementation.
Some studies have shown that individuals convicted of killing white people were at least three times more likely to receive the death penalty than those convicted of killing Black and Latino people, and the population of death row prisoners is disproportionately people of color. The influence of election pressures on public officials and the politicized process that can go into selecting judges contribute to the risk of arbitrary sentencing decisions.
For ways to take action and get involved in reforming the death penalty, Maher’s key message was to not give up the fight. She said that the best avenues for making change are voting and voicing opinions on social media, but that it is also beneficial to support inmates currently on death row through actions such as pen pal programs. In terms of what to advocate for, Maher emphasized increasing accountability for prosecutors, changing the culture of prosecutorial offices, the potential for President Biden to issue commutations to federal prisoners’ sentences in his final months in office, and continued pressure on elected officials to change their use of the death penalty. The road to reform will likely be long and arduous, but with continued contribution to the changes taking place, reform will come slowly but surely.
For information about any upcoming SJS events, keep an eye on our monthly newsletter, Engage (Students for a Just Society), and Instagram (@sjsatau). More information about DPIC and their work can be found at deathpenaltyinfo.org. The full Lethal Election Report can be viewed here: https://dpic-cdn.org/production/documents/Lethal-Election-Report_Spreads.pdf?dm=1719886362.
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