Leaders Condemn Governor’s Plan to Start Executions by Gassing
Just after Louisiana showcased its culture and hospitality on the world’s stage at the Super Bowl and as we enter the carnival season, today, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill took the perverse step of seeking to restart executions. After over two decades without a contested execution, Governor Landry’s plan is a reckless political action ushering in gassing as a new form of execution under the guise of retribution.
“Seeking executions can only be meant to distract from the very real problems with the death penalty in Louisiana, which impacts not the worst of the worst, but those with mental illness, brain damage, devastating childhood trauma, and often all three,” said Cecelia Trenticosta Kappel, Executive Director of The Center for Social Justice at Loyola University and experienced Louisiana capital attorney.
“The Governor’s actions are evidence of what we’ve known for a long time: the government and politics have no place in deciding who lives and who dies. To put communities who have suffered great loss through a stunt motivated by politics, is cruel, disturbing, and another injustice in the long chain of injustices. Louisiana can, should, and will demand better of our leaders.” said Samantha Kennedy, Executive Director of the Promise of Justice Initiative, a Louisiana organization leading the lawsuit against the State’s methods of execution.
“The Louisiana NAACP condemns this extreme action by the Governor,” said Michael McClanahan, President of the NAACP Louisiana State Conference. “Executions do not serve justice. We refuse to stand by while Louisiana resurrects the racist cruelties of the past, echoing the brutal injustices of lynching and slavery, especially offensive during Black History month, a month meant to honor freedom and accomplishment. The death penalty was wrong then, and it is wrong now.”
Louisiana’s death penalty has been plagued by systemic problems. Since 1976, 4 out of 5 death sentences in Louisiana have been overturned on appeal. Research by legal advocates has shown that the application of the death penalty in Louisiana is rife with significant racial disparities, widespread evidence of intellectual disability, and misconduct by prosecutors that has resulted in innocent people being sentenced to death. The death penalty has been overwhelmingly imposed on people of color, and 2 out of 3 people on death row today are Black, including men sentenced to death by all-white juries who openly discussed race during their deliberations.
Learn more about the history and application of the death penalty in Louisiana.