But all of this lies at the death penalty’s margins. And the justices may well insist this term that states make executions a little more comfortable for the condemned. It has opened the door a little wider to innocence claims. It has overturned convictions in cases plagued by particularly unfair trials, when for example prosecutors grossly manipulated the racial composition of a jury.
It has banned executions of mentally retarded offenders and those who committed their crimes while juveniles. Yes, in recent years, the Supreme Court has shifted gears on the death penalty and gone from enabling it to pecking away at it. Nor are the courts chiefly behind the change. Even in New Jersey, where legislators voted to ban capital punishment, voters disagree: A recent Quinnipiac poll found that Garden State residents oppose eliminating the death penalty by 53 percent to 39 percent. And in Gallup polling, many more Americans say they believe the death penalty is used “not enough” (51 percent) than “too often” (21 percent). In an ABC News/Washington Post poll, respondents preferred death to life in prison without parole for persons convicted of murder by about the same margins as they did in 2000. While most Americans say they believe innocent people have been executed and that the death penalty does not act as deterrent, that doesn’t seem to dampen their enthusiasm for it. Polls vary, but most show between 65 percent and 70 percent support for capital punishment, somewhat lower than during the peak period of its popularity during the 1990s but still strong and stable.
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The trouble for capital punishment opponents is that it’s a lot less clear what’s driving that change–or how to translate that force into abolition in the 36 states that retain execution as a criminal justice option.īecause one thing that’s clearly not driving the shift is public opinion. Meanwhile, not only did New Jersey dispense with its death penalty, but several other states actively considered abolition as well. In 2007, by contrast, Texas alone accounted for 62 percent of executions the top three states accounted for 76 percent and the top six states accounted for 90 percent. In 2002, for example, 65 percent of executions took place in only three states the following year, the top three states accounted for 69 percent. And capital punishment, which has always been a regional phenomenon, has been growing ever more so. In 2007, according to DPIC, saw a historic low in new death sentences. The annual number of people sentenced to death row has fallen since its peak in 2002. Still, the downward trend is both broader and older than the current flap over the drugs. But after the court either strikes down the current mixture or okays it, executions will resume–perhaps using a different combination of drugs–and clearing the backlog will probably immediately lead to a brief spike. The de facto moratorium created by the Supreme Court case is a significant contributor to 2007’s sharp drop. The 42 people put to death in 2007 represent the lowest figure in 13 years and a drop of fully 57 percent since capital punishment’s peak. In 2007, according to DPIC’s data, that number dropped even further.
Then, just as executions seemed to have become a routine part of our criminal justice system again, the numbers began a precipitous drop–to 85 executions in 2000, 59 in 2004, and 53 in 2006.
In 1999, 98 people met their ends in execution chambers across the country, the culmination of a long revitalization of capital punishment following the Supreme Court’s reinstatement of its lawfulness in 1976. Foes of the death penalty have good reason for cheer right now. While capital punishment appears on the wane right now, neither New Jersey’s action nor the temporary national freeze–particularly the latter–may mean all that much in the long run.ĭon’t get me wrong. The death penalty is, like the Iraqi insurgency, not quite yet in its death throes. The news has the anti-capital punishment Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) proclaiming the “execution chambers silent” as the Garden State charts a “new direction” and declaring both actions symbolic of the “broad changes that have been occurring in the death penalty around the country.”Ĭurb your enthusiasm. And no state other than Texas (a significant exception) executed more than three people last year. By taking up the issue, the Court has effectively frozen all executions in the nation. Today, the Court will hear arguments over whether the specific drug cocktail used in lethal injections constitutes cruel and unusual punishment by causing too much pain to the condemned. New Jersey has taken the plunge and legislatively repealed capital punishment–becoming the first state in the modern era to do so.
These are heady days for anti-death penalty activists.
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