07/07/2026
Fifty years ago last week, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty after a four-year, nationwide moratorium. The court tasked the states with creating a capital punishment scheme that would not be arbitrary and discriminatory.
They failed.
In 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court overturned the death penalty across the country, finding that it was applied in a discriminatory way against Black people and that it was used so rarely that it was like “being struck by lightning.”
On July 2, 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia, the court upheld new state laws attempting to address the court’s previous ruling. The new laws directed the jury or judge to consider objective criteria and a defendant’s personal character and history before sentencing them to death.
Today, the death penalty in Pennsylvania and around the country is as arbitrary as it was in 1972. As research has shown, being sentenced to death is based on the race of the defendant and the victim, the county in which the act occurred, and the defendant’s ability to afford an attorney.
The death penalty isn’t reserved for the so-called “worst of the worst.” It’s given to the most vulnerable.
Because of these flaws, innocent people have been sentenced to death in Pennsylvania. And those who are guilty are given the harshest sentence due to factors not related to the crime - their race, their income, and their jurisdiction.
Pennsylvanians recognize that the death penalty is broken. Juries rarely sentence people to death. And polling shows public support at its lowest point in 50 years.
It’s time for the General Assembly and the courts to do what is moral, ethical, and constitutional - end the death penalty in Pennsylvania.
