A recent study pub­lished by the Jesuit Social Research Institute of Loyola University point­ed to numer­ous prob­lems with Louisiana​’s death penal­ty. In par­tic­u­lar, the study found:
 — Per capi­ta, Louisiana has one of the high­est wrong­ful-con­vic­tion rates in the coun­try. More peo­ple have been exon­er­at­ed in Louisiana in the last ten years than exe­cut­ed.
 — Within Louisiana’s most aggres­sive death penal­ty dis­tricts, white vic­tims are dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly tar­get­ed for the death penal­ty by dis­trict attor­neys.
 — The death penal­ty is applied in only 1% of mur­der cas­es; of the oth­er 99% of cas­es, many go unsolved.
 — The death penal­ty in Louisiana has not been reserved for ​“the worst of the worst” defen­dants. Louisiana’s death row is over­rep­re­sent­ed by indi­vid­u­als with child­hood trau­ma, intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties, and men­tal ill­ness­es.
 — Reforms are need­ed to bet­ter assist fam­i­lies of mur­der vic­tims, includ­ing allo­cat­ing more resources to address unsolved mur­ders and improv­ing access to coun­sel­ing and men­tal health services.

The study also reviewed Catholic social teach­ing on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Read a short sum­ma­ry of the report here.

The study con­clud­ed, ​“As a con­tem­po­rary crim­i­nal jus­tice pol­i­cy, the death penal­ty in Louisiana is a cost­ly and inef­fec­tive com­mit­ment to ret­ri­bu­tion, tak­ing away scarce resources need­ed for pre­ven­tion, heal­ing and redemp­tion. Exoneration rates and the dis­pro­por­tion­ate pros­e­cu­tions of cas­es involv­ing white vic­tims belie any claim that the admin­is­tra­tion of the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem in Louisiana is ratio­nal or fair.” The study was com­mis­sioned by Louisiana Catholics Committed to Repeal of the Death Penalty.

(A. Mikulich & S. Cull, ​“Diminishing All of Us: The Death Penalty in Louisiana,” Jesuit Social Research Institute, March 2012). Read more stud­ies on the death penal­ty. See also Religious Views.

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