Alabama Amendment 3, Notice to Victim's Family Required for Commutation or Reprieve of Death Sentences Amendment (2022)
| Alabama Amendment 3 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic State executive official measures and Death penalty | |
Status Approved | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
Alabama Amendment 3, the Notice to Victim's Family Required for Commutation or Reprieve of Death Sentences Amendment, was on the ballot in Alabama as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022. It was approved.
A "yes" vote supported requiring the governor to provide notice to the attorney general and the victim's family before granting a commutation or reprieve of a death sentence. |
A "no" vote opposed requiring the governor to provide notice to the attorney general and the victim's family before granting a commutation or reprieve of a death sentence. |
Election results
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Alabama Amendment 3 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
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994,276 | 81.89% | ||
| No | 219,903 | 18.11% | ||
Overview
What did this amendment do?
Amendment 3 required the governor to provide notice to the attorney general and make reasonable efforts to notify a designated family member of a victim before granting a commutation (a reduced sentence such as life imprisonment) or reprieve (temporary stay of execution) of a death sentence. The attorney general must provide a mailing address, email address, and phone number to the Governor for the purposes of contacting the victim's family. Failing to provide notice voids the reprieve or commutation of the death sentence and the attorney general and Alabama Supreme Court can seek a new execution order.[1]
What is the state's history with the death penalty and how many people are currently on death row in Alabama?
- See also: Death penalty in Alabama
As of 2022, Alabama was one of 27 states that provide for a death penalty. In three of these states (California, Pennsylvania, and Oregon), the death penalty had been placed under a gubernatorial moratorium, though the laws providing for the death penalty in those states remained on the books. The remaining states disallowed the death penalty. The death penalty is permitted under federal law.
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated death row laws in a 1972 ruling, finding that they violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment in the Eighth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights. States updated their death penalty laws to comply with the Furman ruling. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was not unconstitutional per se (by itself) and lifted the nationwide moratorium on death sentences.[2]
Following the moratorium being lifted, since 1983, Alabama has executed 69 inmates on death row (68 men and one woman). Forrest "Fob" James (R), who served as governor of Alabama from 1995 to 1999, granted the only commutation of a death sentence in Alabama. On his final day in office in 1999, he commuted the death sentence of Judith Ann Neelley to life in prison. Neelley had been sentenced by a jury to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but a judge overruled the jury and sentenced Neelley to death. Alabama judges could override jury verdicts of life imprisonment and instead impose a death sentence until Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed a bill prohibiting the practice in 2017.[3][4][5][6]
As of April 12, 2022, 165 inmates were on death row in Alabama.[7]
How did this amendment get on the ballot?
- See also: Path to the ballot
To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a 60 percent vote is required in both the Alabama State Senate and the Alabama House of Representatives.
The State Senate passed the constitutional amendment, Senate Bill 196, on February 16, 2022, in a vote of 27-0 with eight members absent. Among Senate Republicans, 21 voted in favor and six were absent. Among Senate Democrats, six voted in favor and two were absent. The House passed the bill in a voice vote on April 5, 2022.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title is as follows:[1][8]
| “ | Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to require the Governor to provide notice to the Attorney General and to the victim's family prior to granting a reprieve or commutation to a person sentenced to death, and to void the reprieve or commutation if the Governor fails to provide notice. (Proposed by Act 2022-256)
Yes ( ) No ( )[9] |
” |
Ballot summary
The Alabama Fair Ballot Commission wrote the following ballot statement:[10]
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Constitutional changes
- See also: Alabama Constitution
The ballot measure amended the Alabama Constitution. The following struck-through text was deleted and underlined text was added.[1]
Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.
(a)(1) The governor shall have power to Governor may grant reprieves and commutations to persons under sentence of death.
(2) The power to grant a reprieve or commutation under subdivision (1) shall not be exercised until the Governor has notified the Attorney General and has made reasonable efforts to notify a designated member of the victim's family, whose mailing address, e-mail, and phone number have been provided to the Governor by the Attorney General for this purpose.
(3) Failure to provide the required notification under subdivision (2) shall void the reprieve or commutation, and the Attorney General may seek a new execution order from the Alabama Supreme Court as provided under existing law.
(b)The legislature shall have power to Legislature may provide for and to regulate the administration of pardons, paroles, remission of fines and forfeitures, and may authorize the courts having criminal jurisdiction to suspend sentence and to order probation.
(c) No pardon shall relieve a person from civil and political disabilities unless specifically expressed in the pardon.[9]
Readability score
- See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2022
Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.
The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 25, and the FRE is 8. The word count for the ballot title is 52.
Support
Supporters
Officials
- State Sen. Sam Givhan (R)
- State Sen. Steve Livingston (R)
If you are aware of any supporters or supporting arguments, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.
Opposition
If you are aware of any opponents or opposing arguments, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
| Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Oppose | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Total | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Ballotpedia has not identified political action committees registered to support or oppose this measure. If you are aware of one, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.
Background
Death penalty in Alabama
Alabama is one of 27 states that provide for a death penalty. Death penalty executions in Alabama were carried out mainly through hanging since 1812 before the electric chair was introduced in 1927. As of 2022, the primary method of execution was lethal injection, though individuals convicted before 2002 may choose whether to be executed by lethal injection or electrocution. As of April 12, 2022, 165 inmates were on death row in Alabama. Death row inmates have an average age of 54.[11]
The U.S. Supreme Court, in its 1972 ruling in Furman v. Georgia, invalidated death row laws, finding that they violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment in the Eighth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Gregg v. Georgia, ruled that the death penalty was not unconstitutional per se (by itself) and would not be cruel and unusual if capital sentencing was based on objective criteria and if the defendant's individual character and record were considered. The 1976 ruling lifted the nationwide moratorium on death sentences as 37 states changed their death penalty laws to remove arbitrary and discriminatory elements when giving death sentences (such as holding separate trials to determine guilt and order sentences) in order to comply with the ruling.[12][13][14]
Following the moratorium being lifted, since 1983, Alabama has executed 69 inmates on death row (68 men and one woman).[15]
Commutations of death sentences in Alabama
Since the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the moratorium on the death penalty in 1976, Forrest "Fob" James (R) has been the only governor to commute a death sentence in Alabama. James served as the Governor of Alabama from 1995 to 1999. James authorized executions during his time in the office, except that, on his final day in office in 1999, he commuted the death sentence of Judith Ann Neelley to life in prison. Neelley had been sentenced by a jury to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but a judge overruled the jury's sentence and sentenced Neelley to death.[4][5]
Recent changes to death penalty laws in Alabama
On April 11, 2017, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed Senate Bill 16 into law, which prohibited judges from overriding a jury's verdict of life imprisonment without parole and instead imposing a death sentence.[16]
On May 18, 2017, Ivey signed Senate Bill 187, known as the Fair Justice Act, which required those facing death sentences to pursue post-conviction remedies concurrently and simultaneously with the direct appeal of the case and prohibit post-conviction relief or writ petitions from being considered after a certain time period after the direct appeal has ended.[17]
Death penalty by state in the United States
As of November 2021, the death penalty was legal in 27 states. In three of these states (California, Pennsylvania, and Oregon), the death penalty had been placed under a gubernatorial moratorium, though the laws providing for the death penalty in those states remained on the books. The remaining states disallowed the death penalty. The death penalty is permitted under federal law, as well.[18]
In 1846, Michigan became the first state to abolish the death penalty. Between 1846 and 1911, four states banned the practice. For the 46 years following Minnesota's 1911 repeal of capital punishment, no other states followed suit. Between 1957 and 1965, five additional states abolished the death penalty. During the 1970s and early 1980s, four more states followed suit. In 2007, both New Jersey and New York prohibited the death penalty. Nine states abolished the death penalty between 2007 and 2020. In August 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as unconstitutional. In March 2020, the Colorado State Legislature passed and Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill repealing the state's death penalty.[19] A year later, the Virginia State Legislature passed and Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed a bill repealing the state's death penalty, making Virginia the first southern state to do so.[20]
In the November 2016 election, voters in three states showed support for the death penalty. Voters in California rejected Proposition 62, which would have repealed the state's death penalty, and they approved a measure designed to speed up the death row appeal process. The people of Nebraska voted to repeal on Referendum 426, thereby preserving the death penalty by voting against the legislature's 2015 motion to abolish capital punishment. Voters in Oklahoma, where the death penalty was already legal, approved State Question 776, which constitutionalized capital punishment.
Statistics on death penalty sentences, 2022
As of January 1, 2022, there were 2,436 active death sentences in the U.S. Of this number, 887 of the death sentences were in California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, where a moratorium prohibiting execution has been imposed by the states' governors. Another 164 of the death sentences were inactive due to court reversals but could be reinstated. This means as of January 2022, 1,385 death sentences could be enforced across 24 states.[21]
Constitutional amendments in Alabama
From 2000 to 2020, 81 constitutional amendments appeared on the statewide ballot in Alabama. Voters approved 64 (79.0%) and rejected 17 (21.0%). The number of amendments on statewide ballots during the even-numbered years between 2000 and 2020 ranged from 4 to 15, and the average number of amendments during this period was 7.8.
| Alabama constitutional amendments, 2000-2020 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number | Approved | Approved (%) | Defeated | Defeated (%) | Even-year average | Even-year median | Even-year minimum | Even-year maximum | ||
| 81 | 64 | 79.01% | 17 | 20.99% | 7.8 | 6.0 | 4 | 15 | ||
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Alabama Constitution
To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a 60 percent vote is required in both the Alabama State Senate and the Alabama House of Representatives.
The State Senate passed Senate Bill 196 on February 16, 2022, in a vote of 27-0 with eight members absent. Among Senate Republicans, 21 voted in favor and six were absent. Among Senate Democrats, six voted in favor and two were absent. The House passed the bill in a voice vote on April 5, 2022.[1]
How to cast a vote
Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Alabama.
See alsoExternal linksFootnotes
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