Whether administered by federal or state government, the death penalty is infected with fundamental flaws, including persistent racial discrimination, and human error. Currently, 27 states, the federal government, and the U.S. Military still have the death penalty. There is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime. Since 1973, at least 189 people wrongly convicted and sentenced to death have been exonerated. 100 of the death row exonerees are Black.
Racism is inextricable from capital punishment. The death penalty has its roots in slavery, lynchings, white vigilantism, and the racial inequities in sentencing persist to this day.
In the landmark 1972 case Furman v. Georgia, LDF secured the country’s first and only nationwide halt to executions. In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in LDF’s favor and found the death penalty as then administered constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
LDF identified the the persistent racial discrimination in the administration of the death penalty and successfully, argued that the death penalty was arbitrarily and disproportionately imposed on Black Americans and other marginalized groups.
The Court ruled that Georgia’s death penalty statute that gave juries complete discretion over sentencing could result in arbitrary application of the death penalty. The decision resulted in the commutation of the sentences 629 individuals on death row. In holding that the death penalty violated the “cruel and unusual punishment” clause of the Eighth Amendment, the Court’s decision forced states to rethink their laws going forward to ensure that the death penalty would not be administered in a discriminatory manner.
Unfortunately, this decision proved to be only temporary as Gregg v. Georgia (1976) reinstated its acceptance and use. Read our statement on the 50th anniversary of Furman v. Georgia.
In 1987, LDF returned to the Supreme Court to once again challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty in Georgia and persistent racial discrimination in its application in McCleskey v. Kemp.
In McCleskey v. Kemp, LDF presented compelling evidence proving how racial discrimination infected the capital punishment system. Regrettably, the justices dismissed the significance of well-documented racial disparities and decided they were not sufficient in overturning the death penalty sentence. The Supreme Court’s decision in McCleskey protected criminal justice laws and policies from being challenged on the basis of racially disparate impact. </span
One of LDF’s most high profile death penalty cases in recent memory, Buck v. Davis challenged the death sentence of Texas death row inmate Duane Buck, whose death sentence was a blatant product of racial discrimination.
In order to hand down a death sentence in Texas, the jury must conclude that the defendant is likely to commit future violent acts. Mr. Buck’s own attorney introduced testimony in the sentencing phase of his trial that he was more likely to be dangerous solely because he is Black. LDF attorney Christina Swarns laid out a powerful argument before the Supreme Court as to why the rule of law demands a new sentencing hearing for Mr. Buck – one that is free from racial bias. In February 2017, the Supreme Court, by a vote of 6-2, declared that Mr. Buck’s trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for introducing the “toxin” of racial bias into Mr. Buck’s capital sentencing hearing. The decision reversed his death sentence and he was re-sentenced to life in prison in October 2017.
Death Row USA includes death penalty statistics and information, data on death row populations by state, executions carried out, statistics on race and gender, current death penalty cases, and more in states with the death penalty.
