The American Constitution Society advocates for the abolition of the death penalty. We condemn the cruelty and racism inherent in the death penalty and provide programming and resources to help foster greater understanding of the racial disparities and constitutional problems in the administration of the death penalty.
In July 2020, after a 17-year moratorium, the U.S. Justice Department resumed executions of federal prisoners sentenced to death. This led to an unprecedented killing spree that, in six short months, resulted in thirteen executions, including six Black men, and the only woman and only Native American on federal death row. But momentum for death penalty abolition is increasing, in part due to a national reckoning with the racially unjust administration of the death penalty and the litany of exonerations of people previously sentenced to death (170 and counting).
As a candidate, President Biden declared that, “Because we can’t ensure that we get these cases right every time, we must eliminate the death penalty.” The Biden-Harris administration now has an opportunity to lead, and secure the president’s legacy, by commuting the death sentences of the remaining forty-six men on federal death row and setting an example for the rest of the nation.
ACS has and will continue to hold national and chapter events about the lack of effective representation for the accused, the use of junk science, unjust and unnecessary limits on judicial review, as well as the institutional racism that plagues our criminal legal systems and the death penalty. We will continue to advocate for the commutation of federal death row and the abolition of this archaic practice, both federally and at the state level.