May 18
Carl Talks—America’s Dying Death Penalty? with Daniel LaChance '01
Mon, May 18, 2026
• 2:00pm
- 3:00pm (1h) • virtual
Carl Talks
America’s Dying Death Penalty?
with Daniel LaChance '01
Monday, May 18, 2026
2 p.m. Central Time
via Zoom
In the 1990s, death sentences, executions, and Americans’ support for capital punishment reached new highs. Nearly 100 people were put to death in 1999, the highest number since the Great Depression. Since then, much has changed. Executions and death sentences have dramatically declined. Six states have abolished the death penalty. And public support for capital punishment is the lowest it’s been since the 1960s. Is the death penalty dying?
Daniel LaChance ’01, Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellow in Law and the Humanities at Emory University, is the author of Executing Freedom: The Cultural Life of Capital Punishment in the United States. He’ll discuss the reasons for the death penalty’s decline and explore the possibility that in an age of political polarization and Trumpism, reports of its (impending) death are greatly exaggerated.
Register by Sunday, May 17 to participate in this Zoom event.
Cost: None.
Unable to join our live event? No problem — we will post a recording of the event on our Alumni Events Recordings page.
Questions? Contact Alumni Relations via email or 800-729-2586.
Event Contact: Krista Herbstrith