As Death Penalty Abolitionists, We Know the Danger of Unchecked State Power. That’s Why We Are Fighting Back Against the Trump Administration’s Abuse of Power.

As death penalty abolitionists, we are well acquainted with the destructive power of the state. The death penalty is, after all, the ultimate expression of governmental control and repression.  It provides the state with lawful justification to inject a healthy person with lethal poisons, to drop her from a gallows in such a manner that her neck snaps from the strain, to force her to kneel so that a government employee can put a bullet in her brain, to place her blindfolded in a public square before crowds of spectators while the executioner swings a sword and chops her head off. 

The fiction of the death penalty is that it is imposed only on those who commit the most heinous crimes, after a fair process overseen by neutral arbiters. In fact, the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide has, over the last fourteen years, documented numerous executions of persons targeted for their political views, sexual orientation, or perceived deviation from dominant social mores. So when our very own government seeks to erase the existence of trans people by declaring that there are only two sexes, forcibly disappears and deports people such as Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk based on their human rights advocacy, demonizes political opponents, and simultaneously expands the application of the death penalty, we see clearly the patterns followed by authoritarian regimes around the world.  

Now is a dangerous time in the United States. At Cornell, many of our international students fear they will be arrested for a stray comment or for “liking” a social media post critical of the Trump Administration. The Trump Administration has directly targeted Cornell and other universities on specious grounds, seeking to dictate who we hire and what we teach.  

In this atmosphere, we see no alternative but to resist, by every lawful means possible, a government that seeks to roll back human rights, make cruelty “cool,” and fill our prisons with people who have committed no crime.  

We are going to rallies, marching, writing, and speaking. In April, Sandra Babcock spoke at a campus protest against the Trump Administration’s assault on universities; you can read the coverage of the rally here, and find the text of her speech here.  

We draw inspiration at this moment from human rights defenders around the world who have stood in the way of political repression. We also applaud all of the public interest organizations, sole practitioners, and small firms—together with a tiny handful of large firms—that have filed lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s unconstitutional policies. We support those who have been forcibly deported without due process, and those who stand to bear the brunt of the continuing crackdown on free speech. We will also continue to build community and find joy in our work, and in the fight that lies ahead.   

In solidarity, 

Sandra Babcock 

Faculty Director 

Chelsea Halstead 

Director  

Bahar Mirhosseni 

Senior Legal Fellow and Director of Legal Advocacy 

Jocelyn Hackett 

Director of International Human Rights Advocacy & Research

Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide