State Politics and the Death Penalty: FromFurmantoMcCleskey

Abstract

Abstract The ten-year moratorium on executions in the United States ended in 1977 when Gary Gilmore was put to death in Utah. Between 1977 and mid-1988, one hundred felons have been executed in twelve states. Although an additional twenty-five states provide for capital punishment, they have not executed for over twenty years. The Supreme Court's ruling in McCleskey v. Kemp (1987), which dismissed a racially discriminatory challenge to the use of capital punishment, was the last major hope of abolitionists to have the death penalty ruled unconstitutional. As a result, any significant effort to abolish the death penalty will be waged at the state level. This article discusses how governors, legislators and jurists in the twenty-five states that have capital punishment statutes but have not implemented them have been able to prevent executions from occurring despite public opinion in support of capital punishment. When important leaders in one or more of these governmental branches is opposed to capital pun...