Religious Neutrality and the Death Penalty

In this article, Professor Arnold H. Loewy discusses the application of religious neutrality to religion-based peremptory challenges in death penalty cases. He discusses the historical treatment of religion as an allowable mitigating, but not aggravating, factor, and he walks the reader through pertinent case law on the matter. He then parallels this distinction to the use of religion in peremptory challenges, taking the stance that religion should be allowed as a basis for peremptory challenges when the religious beliefs impact the juror’s ability to decide fairly.