Capital Punishment
The death penalty is discriminatory and arbitrary and inherently violates the Constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment. The ACLU opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, and looks forward to the day when the United States joins the majority of nations in abolishing it.
The ACLU Capital Punishment Project (CPP) works to abolish the death penalty nationally through direct representation as well as through strategic litigation, advocacy, public education, and mentoring and training programs for capital defense teams. Read more about the Capital Punishment Project »
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Your support helps the ACLU oppose capital punishment and defend a broad range of civil liberties.
Cases
See all ACLU Capital Punishment cases.
Actions
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
VIDEO: African-Americans Excluded from Capital Case Juries (2012 video): Three African-Americans tell stories of being excluded from capital case juries because of their race in North Carolina.
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)
