Citing racial bias and arbitrary application, the Supreme Court of Washington on Thursday ruled that the use of capital punishment violates the state’s Constitution, a decision that will ban the use of the death penalty going forward and immediately commuted the sentences of death-row inmates to life terms.
“Washington’s Supreme Court showed courage in refusing to allow racism to infect life and death decisions. Let’s hope that courage is contagious.” —Jeff Robinson, ACLU”Today’s decision by the state Supreme Court thankfully ends the death penalty in Washington,” declared Washington’s Democratic Governor Jay Inslee in response to the ruling.
“The court makes it perfectly clear that capital punishment in our state has been imposed in an ‘arbitrary and racially biased manner,’ is ‘unequally applied’ and serves no criminal justice goal,” Inslee added. “This is a hugely important moment in our pursuit for equal and fair application of justice.”
The ACLU noted the ruling makes Washington the 20th state in the U.S. to ban the death penalty, but the group said it “won’t stop fighting until it’s struck down everywhere in America.”
As Slate reports:
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