Entries by Greta Maras
News
Aug 04, 2025
Lethal Elections: Pro-Death Penalty Candidates Falter in Major State Races
Today’s elections feature viable candidates who criticize use of the death penalty and pledge reforms or even non-use in death penalty states, reflecting the continued decline in public support for the death penalty. Following up on its 2024 Report on elections and the death penalty, DPI canvassed a wide range of resources, drilling down on gubernatorial, court, and prosecutorial elections in the 2024 – 2025 election cycle to assess results in races that prominently featured the death penalty in…
Read More
News
Jul 02, 2025
Facts About the Death Penalty — Does the Death Penalty Make Communities Safer?
Deterrence is one of the most commonly expressed reasons for use of the death penalty, both as a constitutional justification and as a public policy rationale. Elected officials have recently called the death penalty an “essential” deterrent to crime. The argument goes that if someone knows they could face the death penalty, they will not commit the crime. Following that reasoning would suggest that states with the death penalty are safer than states without it. According to several metrics…
Read More- 1