Human Rights & Reconciliation Death Penalty
The Death Penalty Has No Place in Society
United States | 2004 - 2015
The death penalty should be abolished because it violates basic human rights. More so, it relies on a system fraught with error, discriminates based on race and socio-economic status, takes up disproportionate time and resources in the courts, and impedes meaningful reform of the criminal justice system.
Over 11 years, Atlantic provided $62 million to groups working to abolish the death penalty in the United States. During this time, executions declined 52 percent and, courts handed down 61 percent fewer death sentences. In addition, the number of states performing executions was cut in half. The growing national consensus against the death penalty offers hope that the Supreme Court will ban executions before long.
What We Learned From This Work
We were surprised by the quick pace of progress on this issue. We believe the effort gained momentum due to a combination of quick wins, strategic communications and steadfast commitment to incremental progress.
A national advocacy campaign is more likely to succeed when it has a strategy run by an independent leadership team invested with full decision making authority, accountability mechanisms and influence over funding priorities.
Grants have more impact when donors coordinate with each other to align, pool and commit their funding in support of strategic priorities.
Getting Closer to Zero
A Landmark Win
Atlantic grantees played a pivotal role in advancing arguments that helped convince the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 to strike down the juvenile death penalty.
More States Say No More
Between 2007 – 2014, six states ended the death penalty. In several more, governors put executions on hold or they have been halted awaiting the outcome of litigation challenging the use of lethal injection.
Better Use for the Money
After repealing its death penalty in 2011, Illinois redirected $18 million from its death penalty budget to services for victims and law enforcement.
Here’s Who’s Helping Write the Next Chapter in This Continuing Story
Connect to Grantee and Funding Partners
More Reasons the Death Penalty Must End
Summaries of Case Studies, Evaluations & Reports
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Creating Momentum: The Atlantic Philanthropies’ Investments to Repeal the Death Penalty in the United States
Source: Michael Quinn Patton and Kay E. Sherwood
Atlantic’s investments totaling about $60 million between 2004 and 2016 have been a contributing factor in the growing momentum to abolish the death penalty in the United States, according to an evaluation of the foundation’s work to end capital punishment. As noted in the report,…
Resource type: Evaluation
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Lethally Deficient: Direct Appeals in Texas Death Penalty Cases
Source: Texas Defender Service
The system in Texas for providing representation for indigent defendants appealing their death penalty convictions is broken and in dire need of reform, according to this report from the Texas Defender Service. Researchers based their conclusion on an examination of six years of direct death penalty appeals, which…
Resource type: Research Report
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Race and Punishment
Source: The Sentencing Project
White Americans’ strong association of crime with blacks and Latinos is related to their support for punitive policies that disproportionately impact people of color. Synthesizing two decades of research, this report from The Sentencing Project concludes that racial perceptions of crime are a central cause…
Resource type: Research Report
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The 2% Death Penalty: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All
Source: Death Penalty Information Center
Only two percent of U.S. counties have been responsible for the majority of cases leading to executions since 1976, according to this report by the Death Penalty Information Center. The disparate and highly clustered use of the death penalty raises serious questions of unequal, costly…
Resource type: Research Report
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