Affect Change at the State Level, Nationally, and Help Individuals
- End the Death Penalty State-by-State
- Citizens have the ability to exert upward influence on their politicians through protest, activism and elections.
- Currently, there are 31 states that permit the death penalty in some cases, although many of those states have not recently executed anyone. Of the remaining states, 19 have outlawed the practice and 4 have a Governor-imposed moratorium on the death penalty (DPIC). Anti-death penalty rallies are staged across the country every year in states where the practice persists. These protests promote awareness and gather media attention to the cause. This allows the issue to become politically salient and attract more supporters. Activists create films, write opinion pieces and pressure drug companies to discontinue their production of lethal injection drugs. This creates a shortage of drugs that has successfully limited states’ ability to carry out executions (Hasan).
Source: https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/01/18/a-sign-of-the-times-anti-death-penalty-protesters-arrested-at-scotus/
- State representatives and local politicians also have the ability to influence whether or not the death penalty is legal. Lawmakers in Utah have introduced legislation that would ban the death sentence for an aggravated murder conviction beginning this year (Romboy). By voting in midterm and local elections for state lawmakers who oppose the death penalty or governors who can institute a moratorium on executions, individuals who are passionate about ending the death penalty in their state can exert upward influence.
- Currently, there are 31 states that permit the death penalty in some cases, although many of those states have not recently executed anyone. Of the remaining states, 19 have outlawed the practice and 4 have a Governor-imposed moratorium on the death penalty (DPIC). Anti-death penalty rallies are staged across the country every year in states where the practice persists. These protests promote awareness and gather media attention to the cause. This allows the issue to become politically salient and attract more supporters. Activists create films, write opinion pieces and pressure drug companies to discontinue their production of lethal injection drugs. This creates a shortage of drugs that has successfully limited states’ ability to carry out executions (Hasan).
- Citizens have the ability to exert upward influence on their politicians through protest, activism and elections.
- Ensure a Wholesale Abolition of the Death Penalty by the SCOTUS
- By ensuring that the Supreme Court has a case before it that argues the constitutionality of the death penalty and a majority of justices (five) who oppose the practice, capital punishment may be dissolved on a national scale.
- Primarily, people can volunteer or donate to groups like the American Civil Liberties Union that litigates cases and has been firm in their stance against the death sentence (ACLU). This ensures that the Court will have a case to review.
- Due to the process of judicial positions being nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, voting for presidents and senators who disagree with capital punishment may lead to a greater presence of anti-death penalty justices on the Court.
Source; https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/us/politics/supreme-court-affirmative-action-abortion-unions.html
- By ensuring that the Supreme Court has a case before it that argues the constitutionality of the death penalty and a majority of justices (five) who oppose the practice, capital punishment may be dissolved on a national scale.
- Institute a Retroactive Ban
- Some people argue people who have already been convicted and are on death row should not be given a lesser sentence even if the policy is banned. This would only prohibit the sentence in the future. It is incumbent upon activists to correct this position and guarantee that abolition will apply to those already on death row.
- By donating to Innocence Projects or Post-Conviction organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative, people can support the exoneration of innocent people and lesser sentences for those convicted. EJI has been able to get sentences like mandatory life without parole for minors banned retroactively. The Miller v. Alabama case that establishes this has been upheld and applied to prior convictions (EJI).
Source: https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/about