Clemency in Arkansas

Capital punishment in the U.S., as a practical matter, is in a state of abeyance. While a new ruling from the Supreme Court is pending, however, death rows remain very much of a reality to their occupants, and there are still many appeals in litigation. Last week one type of solution came from Arkansas, a state noted until now for its harsh treatment of felons. Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, who leaves office this month, exercised his right of executive clemency and commuted the death sentences of all 15 prisoners who had been awaiting execution. It was the most sweeping use within memory of a state chief executive's power to revoke capital punishment.

A longtime foe of the death penalty, Rockefeller announced his new decision with obvious feeling: "What earthly mortal has the omnipotence to say who among us shall live and who shall die? I do not. Moreover, 1 cannot and will not turn my back on lifelong Christian teachings and beliefs, merely to let history run out its course on a fallible and failing theory of punitive justice." He urged other Governors to follow his lead "so that as a people we may hasten the elimination of barbarism as a tool of American justice."

Enforcement Bonanza. No other Governor has commuted a death sentence for 18 months, though such action was once common. Historically, better than half of the death penalties imposed by American courts have been commuted. But as no one for the moment is in danger of being executed, Governors have felt less pressure to use their privilege. At the same time, the commuting of prison terms has remained a little-publicized but common practice, used almost as routinely as paroles to reduce sentences. Commutation is, of course, not the equivalent of a pardon; the 15 Arkansas convicts are still under life sentences, unless the Governor makes a further move.

Rockefeller's decision to commute every death sentence was neither impulsive nor solely the product of his moral concern. The move was extensively debated within his staff and in consultations with Stanford Law Professor Anthony Amsterdam, the chief strategist of the nationwide legal campaign against capital punishment. One compelling argument was that it would cost Arkansas an estimated $1,500,000 to attempt to execute all 15 men, considering the many appeals that would have been argued. Because no one has been executed in the U.S. in more than three years, says Amsterdam, "the logjam of those on death row is now so severe that even Governors with a so-called law-and-order attitude may find it in the interest of their states to commute. The funds thus released would buy a bonanza in more effective law enforcement." After Arkansas' innovation, the nation's death-row population in state and federal prisons is now down to 607.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.