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Выборы ничего не значат? Для американских заключенных-смертников голосование во вторник – вопрос жизни и смерти
Elections Don't Matter? For US Death Row Prisoners, Tuesday's Vote Is Life or Death
About 500 Killers Could See Their Lives Spared If Democrats Prevail
In Georgia, the pivotal US Senate runoff election could have major implications for the lives of about 500 death row prisoners across the country.
That's because a Democratic victory would likely lead to the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, potentially shifting the balance of power on the nation's highest court on how it approaches capital punishment.
Breakdown of Jackson's Views on Capital Punishment
- In 2018, she wrote that some death sentences are “implausible” and criticized the lack of uniformity in who gets the death penalty.
- She also criticized the Supreme Court's 2002 decision in Atkins v. Virginia, which ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities is unconstitutional, as not going far enough.
- Jackson has not ruled on a capital case since her confirmation to the DC Circuit in 2021.
If Jackson were to join the Supreme Court and vote with the court's three other liberal justices, they could form a majority to strike down the death penalty as unconstitutional or rule that it can only be used in certain narrow circumstances.
A Pew Research Center poll from 2019 found that 60% of Americans support the death penalty for people convicted of murder, while 39% oppose it.
However, there is a growing movement to abolish the death penalty, and several states have recently passed laws to do so.