On Sep. 26, state Rep. Juandalynn Givan of Birmingham announced plans to put forth new legislation in the 2026 regular session of the Alabama Legislature. The proposed plan would expand state death penalty laws, a shocking move against the political zeitgeist.
Recent calls for reform have been numerous, both by political activists and ordinary people. Geoffrey West’s execution after almost 30 years on death row, in spite of calls from his victim’s son for amnesty, and Gov. Kay Ivey’s approval of the use of nitrogen hypoxia, a form of asphyxiation by breathing in pure nitrogen, in place of lethal injection, have sparked protests in front of the State Capitol.
Givan, in conjunction with Representative Matt Simpson of Daphne, wrongly believes that expanding the death penalty will deter political violence in the wake of the murder of activist Charlie Kirk. Givan’s proposal is set to expand the current law, which puts the death penalty on the table in the murder of a state or federal official, to include local public officials.
“What’s happening in this country is abhorrent. To deal with this type of extremism, an extreme penalty must and should be imposed,” Givan said in an interview with AL.com.
What she fails to recognize is that murder, in almost all forms, is rarely committed by someone in a state of mind to inform themselves on the Alabama death penalty statute. According to the FBI’s Expanded Homicide Data Report, 41.8% of murders are committed in the middle of an argument, making them crimes of passion. People who don’t plan to murder people generally do not find themselves reading up on criminal codes, and they are even less likely to consider the consequences of their actions in the moment.
Givan’s perspective is short-sighted — people who commit acts of political terrorism generally do not think it will come without death.
The violent, intensely ideologically motivated minority are clearly not concerned with punishment, and expanding the death penalty on the basis of political terrorism in a state that has not experienced any of those acts resulting in a fatality since 1963 makes no sense.
This expansion of the death penalty serves no purpose except to fast-track more people into a “painless” punishment — a punishment that, according to a witness of West’s execution who spoke to the American Civil Liberties Union, ended up being 22 minutes of West “convuls[ing], writh[ing] and gasp[ing]” before being pronounced dead.
That is not a fate more people should be subjected to. The Alabama State Legislature, rather than increasing punishment, should focus instead on preventative measures.
Alabama has historically had extremely loose gun laws, including permitless carry for anyone over 19 years of age and no restrictions on assault weapons or large-capacity magazines. By creating restrictions — stricter background checks, required gun safety classes — the state would be able to better vet those looking to have access to firearms.
Rather than expanding the nitty-gritty criminal code that few people will ever read, much less remember in the heat of a crime, we should deny them access to a weapon with which to commit one.
The goal of a state government in the face of violent crime should be preventing deaths, not punishing perpetrators. Political terrorists understand that they could receive the death penalty and choose to take violent action regardless. There is no point in punishing them — and anyone who acts on impulse — even more harshly.
Instead, keeping people unbalanced enough to commit such terrible crimes from being able to attain a firearm is a better way to save lives. If Representative Givan wants to pass any law in the wake of Kirk’s murder, it should not be one adding more ways to earn the death penalty.
Expanding capital punishment could not have saved Kirk, but gun reform might have.
