Trump’s Executive Order Mandating Use of the Death Penalty

Despite President Trump’s claims that the death penalty can deter lethal crimes, evidence suggests otherwise. A robust study of states with and without capital punishment demonstrates that murder rates did not increase when states eliminated the death penalty. In fact, in several states, murder rates dropped after the elimination of the death penalty. This may be due to the “brutalization effect”: Executions set an example to the public that killing is an acceptable way to avenge grievances. Additionally, states that utilize the death penalty have higher homicide rates than those that do not. Taking these factors into consideration, it is not surprising that a poll of 500 randomly selected police chiefs ranked the death penalty as the least effective tool for reducing violent crime.

The death penalty is racially biased in its application, with race being the single biggest determinant of who will be executed. People are far more likely to be executed if the victim is white rather than Black. The highest likelihood of execution occurs when the victim is white, and the person convicted is Black.

Black people are also disproportionately sentenced to death. The population of people on death row is over 40% Black, even though only 13% of the U.S. population is Black. Additionally, Black people charged with homicide are about four times more likely to receive the death penalty than similarly situated non-Black people. This can largely be attributed to racial bias that is embedded in every step of the criminal legal system. Prosecutors disproportionately seek the death penalty against Black defendants, Black people are less likely to have access to quality legal representation, judges are more likely to have an implicit bias against Black defendants, and Black people are frequently convicted by all-white juries, who are 16 times more likely to convict a Black person versus a white person.

Lethal injection largely replaced hanging, firing squads, and electrocution as methods of execution in the US over the last few decades, purportedly as more humane than former methods. But lethal injection is also inhumane. Executioners have repeatedly botched executions by failing to place intravenous lines correctly, administering anesthesia incorrectly, burning people with chemicals, and failing to assist people writhing in pain — sometimes for hours. Studies have found significantly higher rates of botched executions when the person being executed is Black. In recent years, states have had difficulty obtaining the drugs needed to carry out lethal injections. In 2011, one of the largest suppliers of a necessary drug moved its manufacturing to Italy, and the authorities there forbid its use in lethal injections. Since 2016, Pfizer has refused to continue supplying drugs for executions, stating that it strongly objects to its drugs being used for capital punishment. The lack of drug availability has caused some states to return to outdated methods, such as firing squad and the electric chair, and some have even adopted toxic gas as an execution method. In response, instead of recognizing that lethal injection also has alarming, unacceptable and torturous effects, President Trump’s executive order calls upon the AG to take steps to ensure states have a sufficient amount of drugs to proceed with lethal injection executions.

Not only does the death penalty fail to deter violent crime, prosecuting a death penalty case is also incredibly costly to taxpayers. Expenses include more complex and lengthy trials and appeals in addition to the execution itself. Prior to abolishing the death penalty, Maryland spent $186 million to carry out five executions. Additionally, it cost the state nearly three times as much to get a death penalty sentence than it cost to pursue a similar case where the state chose not to seek the death penalty.Similarly, because it has the death penalty, California has spent  $4 billion more than it would have if life in prison without the possibility of parole was its most severe penalty. The death penalty is significantly more costly than imprisoning someone for life. Pouring so much money into pursuing the death penalty diverts resources away from programs to help families and survivors heal.