OpinionRite & Reason

Will Varadkar ask Joe Biden about the 40 men on federal death row in the US?

Its attachment to the death penalty has made the US an outlier in the developed world for many decades

An execution chamber at a prison in Texas. Photograph: Getty Images
An execution chamber at a prison in Texas. Photograph: Getty Images
Ian O'Donnell
Sun Mar 10 2024 - 05:30

On St Patrick’s Day 1954, Michael Manning sat in the condemned cell in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison, smoking Player’s cigarettes and reading the Irish Independent. A mile or so away on a sunny O’Connell Street, large crowds gathered to watch the capital’s annual parade.

Manning had been sentenced to death for the murder of Catherine Cooper, an elderly nurse whom he had beaten, sexually assaulted and suffocated. Apprehended soon after this heinous crime, Manning apologised and pleaded for mercy. A petition for clemency was signed by members of the Cooper family.

The government was not inclined to be merciful and on April 20th, Albert Pierrepoint escorted Manning to the gallows, placed a noose around his neck, and opened the trapdoor beneath his feet. Death was swift and those in attendance tried to regain their composure afterwards by drinking whiskey provided by the prison doctor.

Adding to the poignancy of the occasion, Manning’s pregnant wife contacted the prison governor to request a death certificate so that she could claim the widow’s pension to which she had prematurely become entitled.

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There is nothing to be gained by snuffing out their lives because they snuffed out the lives of others. It is long past time for the cycle of violence to stop

Manning was the last convicted murderer in Ireland not to have his sentence commuted to penal servitude for life. Everyone who followed was shown mercy until the question became redundant with the abolition of the death penalty in 1990.

This St Patrick’s Day, 40 men will sit in their cells on federal death row in Terre Haute, Indiana. A few miles down the road from the penitentiary, the city’s residents will host a party to celebrate Ireland’s most famous saint.

[ The chilling legacy of 50 years of hangings at Mountjoy Prison ]

Their sentences could be commuted if president Joe Biden chose to exercise his clemency power.

There is nothing to be gained by snuffing out their lives because they snuffed out the lives of others. It is long past time for the cycle of violence to stop. Its attachment to the death penalty has made the US an outlier in the developed world for many decades.

[ US executes first woman on federal death row in nearly 70 years ]

The closing months of the Trump administration were characterised by an unprecedented killing spree, with 13 federal prisoners taken from their cells, strapped to a gurney and executed by lethal injection. If Trump is returned to office he may feel he has unfinished business to complete.

Biden has said he will work to pass legislation ending capital punishment at the federal level. But he could sign these commutation notices immediately. I estimate that it would take him no more than four minutes to do so.

The shamrock in the crystal bowl that the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will present to Biden when he visits the White House represents the Holy Trinity. It is said that Patrick used this plant to explain the indivisibility of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As a devout Catholic, Biden will no doubt be aware of the religious significance of this gift.

Having met Pope Francis, he will also know that the pontiff has denounced the death penalty, describing it as “an inhumane measure that, regardless of how it is carried out, abases human dignity”.

Commuting the sentences of the men in Terre Haute would be a better way to mark the legacy of the patron saint of the country the US president is proud to call home than turning the water in the White House fountain green for a day.

Varadkar has an enviable opportunity to sit with Biden to talk of the close relationship that binds our two countries and what each might learn from the other. He has indicated his desire to discuss Ireland’s perspective on the catastrophic situation in Gaza.

The failure of the US to intervene to prevent the death, mutilation, and orphaning of many thousands of innocent children in Israel’s ruthless military campaign suggests that the human rights of the convicted murderers who occupy federal death row are unlikely to be a political priority. Nor will they excite much public sympathy.

Unlike the consensus-building often required to make progress in politics, this is a matter for the president alone; he does not need to persuade anyone else of the merits of sparing these lives

But while they may be few in number, these men’s predicament brings into focus important questions about the power of the state to take life and how this might be constrained.

If, when he has concluded his discussion of pressing international issues, the Taoiseach invited Biden to show mercy to the men in the queue for Terre Haute’s execution chamber, that would be an impressive display of statesmanship.

[ No Irish need apply: Frank McNally on the national hang-up about capital punishment ]

If Biden agreed to set four minutes aside to sign the necessary orders, that would be something to remember on future St Patrick’s Days.

Unlike the consensus-building often required to make progress in politics, this is a matter for the president alone; he does not need to persuade anyone else of the merits of sparing these lives. We often boast of punching above our weight in international affairs. Reminding the US President of his clemency power would be a powerful jab for justice.

Ian O’Donnell is professor of criminology at UCD and author of Justice, Mercy, and Caprice: Clemency and the Death Penalty in Ireland