American Civil Liberties Union

Partnering with ACLU affiliates in death penalty states, and with coalition partners nationally, CPP promotes both abolition and systemic reform of the death penalty process. We do that in the following ways.

Direct Representation: CPP takes on direct representation in cases that exemplify the inherent unfairness in capital cases. We work primarily in the courts of the South, in states that have historically been discriminatory or reluctant to provide adequate resources for indigent clients facing the death penalty.  

Strategic Litigation: CPP is currently involved in capital litigation in courts throughout the country, including the United States Supreme Court. In general, its litigation focuses on: (1) innocent persons; (2) severely mentally ill persons; (3) persons who face execution because of abysmal legal representation; (4) persons who face execution because of systemic discrimination; and (5) improving the fairness of capital trials and appeals.

Systemic Reform: CPP works to reform the capital punishment process. In general, its initiatives focus on improving the quality of legal representation, enhancing the fairness of capital trials and appeals, and reducing the number of defendants who face the death penalty.

Public Education and Advocacy: CPP is actively engaged in repeal and moratorium efforts in a number of states. Elsewhere, CPP is working to curtail the use of the death penalty and oppose recent efforts to expand its use through public education and other advocacy efforts.

Cases

See all ACLU Capital Punishment cases.

Actions

We Are Troy Davis: End the Death Penalty in Your State (2011 map): The state of Georgia has executed Troy Davis, despite serious concerns that he was wrongly convicted in 1989 of killing a police officer. This case makes clear that the death penalty system in the United States is broken beyond repair. It is arbitrary, discriminatory and comes at an enormous cost to taxpayers, and it must be ended.

Multimedia

CA’s Death Penalty: Multi-Million Dollar Failure (2009 video)

Other Resources

The Case Against the Death Penalty (2011 resource): The American Civil Liberties Union believes the death penalty inherently violates the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment and the guarantees of due process of law and of equal protection under the law. Furthermore, we hold that the state should not arrogate unto itself the right to kill human beings – especially when it kills with premeditation and ceremony, in the name of the law or in the name of its people, or when it does so in an arbitrary and discriminatory fashion.

Death Penalty 101 (2011 resource): Some facts and numbers on the death penalty.

The Death Penalty: Questions and Answers (2011 resource)

H.R. 5107: The Justice for All Act of 2004 (2005 resource)

Scattered justice: geographic disparities of the death penalty (2004 resource)

DNA Testing and the Death Penalty (2002 resource)

Most Popular

Uncle Sam's Drug-Seeking Behavior (2011 blog post)

Innocent North Carolina Man Exonerated After 14 Years On Death Row (2008 press release)

Vernell Crittendon: Spokesman for Death Speaks for Himself (2007 blog post)

Arbitrary and Capricious Application of Death Penalty Persists Three Decades After Furman v. Georgia (2003 press release)

ACLU Finds Serious Flaws in Ashcroft Death Penalty Bias Report, Calls for Independent Review of Federal System (2001 press release)