PHILADELPHIA BAR ASSOCIATION RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION ABOLISHING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

WHEREAS, it is the mission of the Philadelphia Bar Association to serve the public and the profession by promoting justice, professional excellence and respect for the rule of law, and the Association strives to foster understanding of, involvement in, and access to the justice system; and

WHEREAS, the Philadelphia Bar Association, the oldest metropolitan association of lawyers in the United States, supports the protection of civil rights and the elimination of wrongful discrimination, and is committed to advancing the fair and effective administration of justice; and

WHEREAS, the Philadelphia Bar Association has previously adopted resolutions calling for a moratorium on capital punishment;¹ for the abolition of capital punishment for crimes committed by anyone under the age of 18;² and for ending racial disparities in policing,³ inter alia; and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania’s death row population ranks in the top 10 amongst states nationwide;⁴ and

WHEREAS, 67.2% of Pennsylvania’s death row population are racial and ethnic minorities, while those populations comprise only 19% of the Commonwealth;⁵ and

WHEREAS, racial disparities in capital sentencing have been demonstrated in Philadelphia, where African American defendants were sentenced to death at 9.3 times the rate of similarly situated non-African Americans;⁶ and

WHEREAS, one third of African Americans on death row in Philadelphia County would have received life sentences if they were not African American;⁷ and

WHEREAS, the racial disparities in capital cases can be tied to the persistent racial discrimination in jury selection in Pennsylvania;⁸ and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania death penalty jurors are significantly more likely to prematurely decide the defendant deserves death, before the sentencing phase even begins, when the defendant is African American;⁹ and

WHEREAS, in addition to race, class is a prevalent factor in the imposition of the death penalty; those living in poverty are more likely to be sentenced to death than the wealthy;¹⁰ and

WHEREAS, approximately 20% of death row inmates have a serious mental illness;¹¹ and

WHEREAS, a 2016 study determined that since 1978, Pennsylvania had spent at least $816 million more on sentencing 408 criminal defendants to death than it would have spent on life sentences;¹² and

WHEREAS, there have been 11 exonerations of death row inmates in Pennsylvania since 1973 – five of which occurred since 2019;¹³ and

WHEREAS, nationwide there have been at least 190 exonerations of death row inmates;¹⁴ and

WHEREAS, data shows that 87% of African American death row exonerees who were sentenced to death were victims of official misconduct, compared to 67% of white death row exonerees;¹⁵ and

WHEREAS, capital murder cases cause public defenders in Pennsylvania more adverse consequences to their health, family life, home life and social life than noncapital murder cases;¹⁶ and

WHEREAS, the death penalty does not serve its stated purpose of deterrence, as the rates of homicides in non-death penalty states are consistently lower than in states that have the death penalty;¹⁷ and

WHEREAS, there is no way to put procedural safeguards in place that will guarantee with 100% certainty that Pennsylvania will not execute an innocent person;18

WHEREAS, 23 states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty;¹⁹ and

WHEREAS, on February 16, 2023, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announced that he would not sign any execution warrants as governor and called on the legislature to abolish the death penalty; and

WHEREAS, State Representative Christopher M. Rabb introduced House Bill 999, Printer’s Number 940 and Senator Katie Muth introduced Senate Bill 600, Printer’s Number 597, both of which would amend Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes to remove death as a sentence for violations of criminal law;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Philadelphia Bar Association supports the abolition of the death penalty as punishment for any crime in Pennsylvania;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Philadelphia Bar Association urges the Commonwealth to enact legislation, such as House Bill 999, Printer’s Number 940 and Senate Bill 600, Printer’s Number 597 that would have the intent or effect of abolishing the death penalty as punishment for any crime in Pennsylvania;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Philadelphia Bar Association authorizes the Chancellor or the Chancellor's designee to communicate the content of these Resolutions to the members of the General Assembly, the Governor, the Pennsylvania Attorney General, Pennsylvania’s various District Attorneys, other public officials, other bar associations, and the public at large, and to take such other action as may be appropriate.

PHILADELPHIA BAR ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
ADOPTED: May 25, 2023

¹ https://philadelphiabar.org/?pg=BoardResolution1716112222000

² https://philadelphiabar.org/?pg=BoardResolution92922412004

³ https://philadelphiabar.org/?pg=ResJune20_3

⁴ https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/DRUSASpring2022-22.pdf

⁵ https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/PAdeath

⁶ NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Amicus Brief, at 13 (February 22, 2019), https://jlc.org/sites/default/files/attachments/2019-03/2019.2.22%20NAACP%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf; https://dpic-cdn.org/production/legacy/PAFinalReport.pdf

⁷ Death Penalty Information Center, Excerpts from the Final Report of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System (2021), https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/excerpts-from-the-final-report-of-the-pennsylvania-supreme-court-committee-on-racial-and-gender-bias-in-the-justice-system

⁸ NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Amicus Brief, at 4 (February 22, 2019), https://jlc.org/sites/default/files/attachments/2019-03/2019.2.22%20NAACP%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf

⁹ Id at 17.

¹⁰ https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2017/10/death-penalty-disproportionately-affects-poor-un-rights-experts-warn

¹¹ https://eji.org/issues/death-penalty/