For Immediate Release
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Contact:
Michael Cahoon, MCahoon@thejusticecenter.org, (603) 801-1473
Louisiana Senate Committee Passes Bipartisan Bill to Repeal the Death Penalty a Second Year in a Row
Committee Votes 4 to 1 in Favor of Ending Death Penalty
Baton Rouge, LA — Earlier today, Louisiana’s Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4 to 1 with bipartisan support to repeal the state’s death penalty and replace it with a life sentence. This is the second year in row that a bipartisan bill to replace Louisiana’s death penalty has been passed out of committee. The House version of the bill (HB 162) is tentatively scheduled to be heard by the Administration of Justice Committee tomorrow, April 11.
Bishop Shelton J. Fabre, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux testified in favor of the bill on behalf of the Louisiana Conference of Bishops and the Catholic Community in Louisiana, “Recognizing that all Human Life is sacred, I therefore raise my voice along with my brother Bishops in stating the importance of abolishing the death penalty in our State, in our nation, and in the relatively very few places it remains practiced in the world. In the circumstances of our time and history, and with the availability of other options, such as life imprisonment, the Catholic Church considers the death penalty an offense against the holiness of Human Life.”
After the vote, Michael Cahoon of LA Repeal commented, “I am heartened to see our lawmakers recognize just how flawed and unnecessary Louisiana’s death penalty is. It is error-prone, costly, and unevenly applied.”
Louisiana’s death penalty has a troubled history. A 2016 study published by the Southern University Law Center Journal of Race, Gender, and Poverty found that 82% of the state’s resolved death penalty cases have been reversed. The uncertainty of the long death penalty process causes additional harm to family members of murder victims.
One out of every 15 resolved cases ended in an exoneration. Louisiana has the highest rate of per capita death row exonerations in the nation with a total of 11 cases. Together these 11 men spent a combined total of approximately 130 years behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit.
The same study also found egregious racial disparities in the application of the death penalty. Researchers found that death sentences are imposed in cases with Black male defendants and white female victims at a rate that is 30 times higher than in cases with Black male defendants and Black male victims. Individuals convicted of killing white victims, regardless of the defendant’s race, are six times more likely to receive a death penalty than the killers of Black victims, and 14 times more likely to be executed. No white person has been executed in Louisiana for a crime against a Black victim since 1752.
A 2016 survey by Multiquest International found that 58% of voters preferred life in prison without parole or life in prison with parole after 35 years for persons convicted of first degree murder, while only 24% preferred the death penalty.
For questions, or to speak with a representative of Louisiana Repeal, please contact Michael Cahoon at MCahoon@thejusticecenter.org or (603) 801-1473. For more information on Louisiana’s death penalty, please visit: www.larepeal.org.
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