Louisiana’s Historic Opportunity to End the Death Penalty and Affirm Life

by Alex Mikulich, Ph. D.

In September 2011, Louisiana Catholics Committed to Repeal of the Death Penalty publicly launched its campaign to end the death penalty in Louisiana. The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops initiated this campaign in 2010. This essay highlights key findings of a comprehensive study of Louisiana’s use of the death penalty that I have conducted over the past year. The full study, co-authored with Sophie Cull of the Louisiana Capital Appeals Project, was part of the campaign launch.

Louisiana is a case in point of the fact that the modern death penalty in the United States emerged as a “law and order” alternative to the “rough justice” of lynching in the nineteenth and early 20th century and as a way ...

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