An opportunity for abolition: McCleskey, innocence, and the modern death penalty decline

Abstract

For more than two decades after Gregg v. Georgia (1976), use of the death penalty greatly expanded across the United States. Since 2000, however, it has declined significantly. Perhaps the most notable explanation for this decline is the contemporary focus on wrongful convictions. In this paper, we aim to contextualize the modern death penalty decline, and its connection with innocence, through the theoretical lens of social movements and collective action. We argue that dual opportunities reshaped the modern anti-death penalty movement. First, the McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) ruling affirmed the federal courts' resistance to abolition and inspired activists to begin shifting toward state-level political abolitionism. Activists then took advantage of the developing interest in wrongful convictions. Specifically, innocence-related abolitionist activities in Illinois reinvigorated the anti-death penalty movement, expanded the advocacy network, and fundamentally reframed the debate around capital punishment in the United States. We suggest that, collectively, these dual opportunities reshaped the anti-death penalty movement into one that emphasized strategies reaching beyond constitutionality and propelled the movement into the twenty-first century with a foundation for successful political abolitionism.