What we want
The end of capital punishment in Georgia.
Why
The state should not engage in the sanctioned killing of humans. Violence is not justice.
Not a proven deterrent
The death penalty has not been proven to be effective as a deterrent to crime. Some point to the fact that the South accounts for 80% of executions and has the highest murder rate while the northeast has both fewer executions a lower murder rate.
“States which impose the death penalty continue to report the highest murder rates in the country with only 3 states without the death penalty ranked in the top 25.”
– Forbes.com
A major report by the National Research Council found that research over the last 30 years had not succeeded in providing any conclusive evidence of the effectiveness of the death penalty and should therefore not be used to inform policy decisions.
“Consequently, claims that research demonstrates that capital punishment decreases or increases the homicide rate by a specified amount or has no effect on the homicide rate should not influence policy judgments about capital punishment.”
– “Deterrence and the Death Penalty,” National Research Council
Racial disparity
There is however a well-documented racial disparity in the application of the death penalty by judges. Defendants are more likely to be given the death penalty in cases where the victim is white and when the defendant is a person of color.
African-Americans represent about 14% of the national population but represent 42% of death row prisoners across the US.
While there are comparable numbers of black and white murder victims in the United States, 76% of the people executed since 1976 were convicted of killing white victims and only 15% were convicted of killing black victims.
A 1998 report revealed at that time that 96% of states where there had been reviews of race and the death penalty, there was a pattern of race-of-victim discrimination, race-of-defendant discrimination, or both.
Overly costly to the public
Death penalty cases are several times more expensive than a normal case for the state. Additionally, holding individuals on death row, and the actual carrying out of an execution often costs millions of dollars per individual. In 1991, Dawson County, GA had to consider raising its millage rate because of three capital cases that were extremely costly.
Georgia death penalty facts
- As of April 1, 2018, there are 56 people on death row in Georgia.
- There have been 72 executions since the death penalty was re-enacted in Georgia in 1973.
- The method of execution in Georgia is by lethal injection.
- There have been six innocent people freed from death row, and eight granted clemency.