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Last updated on: 9/10/2019 10:45:44 AM PST

Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed?

The Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of the death penalty in 1976. Most death penalty cases involve the execution of murderers, although capital punishment can also be applied for treason, espionage, and other crimes. 29 states and the federal government allow the death penalty, while 21 states have bans on the punishment. On July 25, 2019, Attorney General William Barr announced that the federal government would again begin carrying out the death penalty for the first time since 2003. For more information, visit deathpenalty.procon.org.
Pro
Donald Trump
Trump

Con
Joe Biden
Biden
Howie Hawkins
Hawkins
Jo Jorgensen
Jorgensen
Not Clear or Not Found





Pro (Yes)

Pro
Donald Trump
Trump
Republican

"Today, I am also directing the Department of Justice to propose legislation ensuring that those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the DEATH PENALTY - and that this capital punishment be delivered quickly, decisively, and without years of needless delay."

Source: Donald Trump, Twitter.com, Aug. 5, 2019

[Editor's Note: On July 25, 2019, Attorney General William Barr announced that the federal government, under the Trump administration, would again begin carrying out the death penalty for the first time since 2003. ]
Con (No)

Now Con
Joe Biden
Biden
Democrat

"We need to confront racial and income-based disparities in our justice system and eliminate overly harsh sentencing for non-violent crimes. As president, Biden will... Eliminate the death penalty. Over 160 individuals who’ve been sentenced to death in this country since 1973 have later been exonerated. Because we cannot ensure we get death penalty cases right every time, Biden will work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example. These individuals should instead serve life sentences without probation or parole."

Source: Joe Biden, "Justice," joebiden.com (accessed Aug. 26, 2019)

[Editor's Note: Biden previously expressed a PRO opinion on this question. Read Biden's former position on whether the death penalty should be legal.]
Con
Howie Hawkins
Hawkins
Green

"No."

Source: Email from Kevin Zeese with the Hawkins campaign, July 2, 2020
Con
Jo Jorgensen
Jorgensen
Libertarian

"No. From bad policies like the War on Drugs, that set the stage for injustice, to a flawed criminal justice system, such government incompetence precludes any moral justification for executions. No life should be taken when there is any chance of innocence, and governments in the United States have failed on this front far too often.

A 2014 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences issued a conservative estimate that as many as one in every 25 citizens sentenced to death is actually innocent. The Innocence Project reports that as many as 367 people have been exonerated by DNA evidence after serving an average of 14 years in federal custody."

Source: Communication from the Jorgensen campaign to ProCon.org on Aug. 26, 2020



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