Earlier this month, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro issued his first death penalty reprieve as advocates for abolishing capital punishment say the political winds continue to shift slowly in their favor.
In doing so, Governor Shapiro continues to fulfill his promise to not carry out executions and calling on the Pennsylvania state legislature to permanently abolish capital punishment due to the system’s fallibility and his moral opposition, a stance that evolved from his time as Attorney General. Shapiro’s position shifted from supporting the death penalty as Attorney General to opposing it, influenced by the Tree of Life victims’ families and his own moral reflection. As Governor, he grants reprieves for any execution warrant that reaches his desk, a move supported by advocates.
In his first reprieve, Shapiro reiterated that message, writing that his time as attorney general “revealed two undeniable truths about our capital sentencing system: that it is inherently fallible and that its consequences are irreversible.”
The moratorium on carrying out death penalty sentences in Pennsylvania began under Shapiro’s predecessor, Tom Wolf. Both governors said they would not carry out any death sentences, and asked the state legislature to pass sentencing reform that includes eliminating the death penalty. In 2023, the Judiciary Committee of the Democratic-majority state House advanced a repeal bill, but it never received a full vote. The likelihood of agreement with the current GOP-majority Senate remains slim, but the current version includes increased Republican support.
Shapiro “is taking the kind of leadership that we expect people with a strong moral compass and a strong understanding of public policy” to be assuming, Robert Dunham, founder of the Death Penalty Policy Project, said at a news briefing this week.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision (Furman v. Georgia) that forced most states to rewrite their death penalty statutes. Pennsylvania re-established capital punishment in 1978, but since then has only executed three people, the most recent in 1999.
