William LeCroy's Execution Part of "Stunning and Disturbing Trends"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Rodriguez media@acslaw.org

Washington, D.C.  – American Constitution Society President Russ Feingold released the following statement in response to the federal government’s execution of William LeCroy Jr.

“With today’s execution of William LeCroy, Jr., the number of people executed by the federal government in the modern era has tripled in less than three months. Since July, when the Trump administration abruptly lifted the 17-year moratorium on executions, an astounding ten percent of the federal death row population has been put to death. These are stunning and disturbing trends.

This procession of executions needs to stop. According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the past quarter century, violent crimes has declined by 71 percent. During much of that period of dramatic decline, the federal moratorium was in place and the use of the death penalty was waning in many states. We are safer now than when the moratorium began. There is simply no public safety justification for this summer’s sudden and massive number of executions.

Furthermore, no court has yet fully litigated the manner in which current federal execution protocols were adopted and whether they are a safe and humane method of execution. The federal government risks inflicting inhumane, unconstitutional suffering on the people put to death and, given the clear lack of a public safety justification, any moral authority this nation may still have.

The Trump administration’s drive to execute is historically unprecedented in its speed and scope and is out of step with what is happening at the state level, where death sentences and executions are at their lowest levels in decades.”

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
ACS believes that the Constitution is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We interpret the Constitution based on its text and against the backdrop of history and lived experience. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, and many others, we work to uphold the Constitution in the 21st Century by ensuring that law is a force for protecting our democracy and the public interest and for improving people’s lives. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org or on Twitter at @acslaw.