Making the case for the use of the federal death penalty

Long-time readers may recall that I believe there are some uniquely strong arguments for use of the death penalty in extreme cases by the federal criminal justice system.  I am thus intrigued and pleased to see this new piece on SSRN by Michele Martinez Campbell, which is titled "Federalism and Capital Punishment: New England Stories." Here is the abstract:

Application of the federal death penalty to crimes committed in states that have abolished capital punishment is a tiny problem with a disproportionately powerful scholarly impact. Federal death sentences represent only 0.53% of death sentences imposed in the United States. Even more striking, only six individuals, out of 3,242 on death row nationwide, currently await execution on federal capital charges for crimes committed in states that have abolished capital punishment. Yet, in an era of alarmism over the federal government’s role in enforcing criminal laws, an increasing body of scholarly literature has focused on the federalism concerns posed by this rare capital punishment practice. Overwhelmingly, scholars have argued that federal death sentences should be constitutionally impermissible for crimes committed within the borders of abolitionist states strictly on federalism grounds.

This Article examines the prevailing scholarly view that federalism concerns trump Supremacy Clause arguments and render the federal death penalty unconstitutional when applied within the boundaries of abolitionist states and offers a different view. It argues that, contrary to prevailing scholarly wisdom, courts have correctly permitted the federal government to dictate its own sentencing practices given prevailing Supremacy Clause precedent; and moreover that there are two major policy advantages in having federal authorities bring capital charges when particularly egregious cases arise in abolitionist states. First, federal capital prosecution can serve as a “safety valve,” insulating local communities from political pressures that might otherwise lead to more widespread application of capital punishment or derail state abolitionist movements. And second, federal capital charges provide opportunities for uniformity of application that may address longstanding concerns regarding racial inequities in the imposition of death sentences.

Recent and older related posts:

• The federalization of the death penalty
• More support for an exclusively federal death penalty
• Context-free ruminations on the federal death penalty
• Debating the death penalty as bargaining chip
• Research on capital punishment's impact on plea deals
• Another example of the death penalty as an effective plea bargaining tool
• Great new (though still dated) examination of the death penalty and plea bargaining
• A poster child for the (federal) death penalty?
• The federal law gap in the NJ death penalty report
• The federal death penalty in America's paradise
• The federal death penalty in NY and elsewhere
• Ashcroft's death penalty "legacy"
• Wondering about the state and fate of the federal death penalty
• "Cruel and Unusual Federal Punishments"
• Split Sixth Circuit reverses federal death sentence on interesting grounds
• "The Racial Geography of the Federal Death Penalty"
• Federal prosecutor in Western NY (wisely?) recommending lots of capital prosecutions