‘Broken beyond repair’: 150 executives including Sheryl Sandberg join The Independent to demand an end to the death penalty
The young man, hardly more than a boy, was facing a mortal choice. Celia Ouellette, his defence lawyer, told the 18-year-old Black teen from Appalachian Kentucky that he didn’t have any good options left: he could accept a plea deal that would keep him in prison until he was middle-aged, or he could risk going to trial and getting the death penalty for a crime in which he was only indirectly involved. The teen, whose identity Ms Ouellette can’t divulge for legal reasons, was part of a group of five involved in a marijuana sale during which someone got killed. Her client wasn’t in the house where it happened. He wasn’t accused of being the killer. His crime was waiting outside the scene of the crime. All five members of the group were potentially facing execution.
“These options are so crappy,” he lamented, as Ms Ouellette remembers. None of the youths had set out to kill anyone. They had thought they were just making a low-level drug deal. Everything went wrong in an instant.
She explained that the best she could do as his lawyer – the best the system offers many young Black men in his position – was to trade a lengthy prison sentence for keeping his life. He took the plea deal, but he left Ms Ouellette with a mission. He told her to go out and make it so that kids like him got a second chance after making mistakes, even deadly ones – not the death penalty.
“You have to change it,” he said. “If you don’t have the power to fix this, you need to find someone who does.” So that’s what she did.
In 2017, Ms Ouellette, a veteran capital defence lawyer, launched the UK-based nonprofit organisation Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ). Its goal is to inspire leaders in business and the media to lend their voices to ending capital punishment for good. People pay attention to those with the biggest platform. RBIJ wanted those already in the spotlight to help illuminate one of the darkest corners of the criminal justice system.
“We as a movement recognised the value that businesses can bring,” she told The Independent. “When I launched RBIJ in 2017, there was a marked increase in interest from business in social justice, racial justice, and human rights issues at the time. We had a theory that, if we hung our shingle and opened our door, they would be there, and that’s been true.”
Soon, the phones were ringing off the hook.
So far, RBIJ’s campaign has attracted more than 150 well-known signatories to its Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty declaration, which launched earlier this year at South by Southwest, a major conference held annually in Texas. High-profile executives such as Ariana Huffington, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson are all now part of the initiative. (The Independent has joined the declaration as well, with a pledge to highlight the injustices of the death penalty in our coverage.)
The death penalty as an institution is nothing if not multi-faceted: the final, irrevocable end result of state and federal crime policies, policing, and numerous interlocking court systems. It’s a punishment that touches on questions of racial justice, ethics, faith – the value of a human life. As such, the growing number of business leaders who’ve come out against capital punishment have done so for a variety of reasons. For some, it’s the fact that the death penalty has been shown time and time again to be applied disproportionately to men of colour; for others, that there’s no proven link between capital punishment and lowering crime.
“The death penalty is broken beyond repair, and plainly fails to deliver justice by every reasonable measure,” Mr Branson has written of his decision to oppose the punishment. “It is marred by cruelty, waste, ineffectiveness, discrimination, and an unacceptable risk of error. By speaking out at this crucial moment, business leaders have an opportunity to help end this inhumane and flawed practice.” He explained his thinking further during an interview with The Independent: “I think, to be a truly civilised country, you must realise that killing people as a way of trying to teach people not to kill people is not the way to do it. It’s inhumane and it’s wrong.”
For other signatories, it’s that in the modern era nearly one person on death row is exonerated for every 8.3 who are executed – a rate of error they consider far too great when lives are on the line.
“Eliminating the death penalty is a moral imperative in its own right,” Unilever CEO Alan Jope said of his decision to join RBIJ’s mission. “And when the taking of life is compounded by the knowledge of innocents being handed such a sentence, it is even more horrific.”
The approach is emblematic of a broader shift in business culture in the US, according to Tom CW Lin, a professor at the Temple University law school and author of the forthcoming book The Capitalist and the Activist: Corporate Social Activism and the New Business of Change.
“More and more we’re seeing, particularly from younger consumers, that they want to engage with businesses that they think are good corporate citizens, not just good engines for profits for services and providers of products,” Professor Lin said.
It’s an idea that’s been around for a while in one form or another. Everyone from the International Cricket Conference to financial institutions used the economic bite of boycotts and sanctions to pressure South Africa to end apartheid. Businesses cost North Carolina hundreds of millions of dollars when they pulled out of the state in protest over a law denying transgender people access to bathrooms matching their gender identity, until the state overturned the law in 2017.
“It happened gradually,” Mr Lin added. “There’s no particular inflection point, but I would say that, over the course of the last two decades or so, there’s just been a trend line more and more towards this notion that businesses owe obligations to stakeholders beyond their narrow base of shareholders.”
Things have moved one step further, though, in recent years, with major brands all but required to have social stances on questions like Black Lives Matter and the climate crisis to be seen as legitimate, both inside and outside the company. One survey found that three-quarters of workers expect their employers to take a stand on issues of the day, and nearly as many would consider switching jobs if their companies didn’t.
“I think if you take the generation before mine, business leaders just thought they were there to make money. But we have a voice,” Sir Richard said.
According to RBIJ, those who’ve joined it in its fight against the death penalty are responding to something more than just consumer or employee expectations. Once these businesses understand the death penalty’s most flagrant abuses, they start operating with true moral urgency.
“It’s very hard to unsee it,” Ms Ouelette said. “We are pretty unapologetic that what we want to do is work with business on doing things and creating change. Our measures of success are, ‘Did we do the thing we set out to do?’ If the answer to that question is anything but yes, we need to be doing something else with our time.”
The campaign celebrated a major success earlier this year, when its business supporters in Ohio and beyond helped lobby the state to abolish life sentences without parole for children and juvenile offenders – a kind of living death penalty. It’s the sort of policy that, if applied nationally, could make it so that teenagers no longer have to choose between life in prison and death in prison.
And it’s only the beginning. The organisation is setting its sights on an even more ambitious target: getting the president, Joe Biden, to carry out his campaign promise to seek an end to the death penalty. As president, Mr Biden has significant power to “clear the row”, as some put it – commuting the death sentences of all federal offenders, not to mention a bully pulpit to usher through long-lasting legislation.
Until the United States joins the more than 170 United Nations member states that have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, RBIJ will continue trying to honour the charge it was given by a teenager in Kentucky so long ago: “If you don’t have the power to fix this, you need to find someone who does.” Luckily, now they’ve got some powerful allies on their side.
This article was amended on 13 October, 2021. It previously inaccurately stated that one in nine people on death row were later found to be innocent. The study referred to found that for every 8.3 people executed between 1972 and this year, one person had been exonerated. However, far more people are sentenced to death than are ever executed. Around 2 per cent of people on death row during that period have later been exonerated.
The Independent and the nonprofit Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) have launched a joint campaign calling for an end to the death penalty in the US. The RBIJ has attracted more than 150 well-known signatories to its Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty declaration – with The Independent being the latest on the list. We join high-profile executives such as Ariana Huffington, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson as part of this initiative, and are making a pledge to highlight the injustices of the death penalty in our coverage.
Full list of RBIJ signatories
RICHARD BRANSON
Founder, Virgin Group
ADEEL SAEED
CEO, Adeel Saeed
ALAN JOPE
CEO, Unilever
ALESSANDRO BOGLIOLO
Former CEO, Tiffany & Co
ALEX LOVE
Founder and CEO, Alex Love Consulting, LLC
ALI NIAZ,
Co-Founder, BPureSounds
ALICE DYSON
COO, One Media IP LTD
ALLAN W MOSKOWITZ
CEO, Transformative Wealth Management, LLC
ALPA PATEL
Founder and CEO, 9th House
AMANDA PACQUETTE
Director, Business2Technology
AMIT AMIN
Partner, Amit & Naroop
ANDERS HOLCH POVLSEN
CEO, Bestseller
ANDRÉ HOFFMAN
ANDREW N. LIVERIS
Former Chairman and CEO, Dow Chemical | Founder, Liveris Academy for Leadership and Innovation
ANNE WOJCICKI
Co-Founder and CEO, 23andMe, Inc
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
Founder and CEO, Thrive Global | Co-founder, The Huffington Post
ATITI SOSIMI
CEO, Eyato London
BEN COHEN
Co-founder, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
BERT JACOBS
CEO, LIFE IS GOOD
BRAD S. KARP
Chairman, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
BRITTANY DAMICO
Senior Business Development Manager, Change Finance
CASEY J. MULLIGAN
Owner, Mulligan & Mulligan PLLC
CATHERINE KIMMEL
Co-CEO, The Artemis Agency
CHRIS DAW QC
Lawyer, Broadcaster and Author of Justice on Trial
CHRISTINA BROOKS
Founder and CEO, Ruebik
CHRISTOPHER COX
Associate Director, Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investment
CHRIS DUTTON
Founder, The CEO Magazine
DAN MEYER
President and CEO, Nehemiah Manufacturing
DANIEL DART
CEO, Dart Capital & Co
DAVID BRONNER
CEO, Dr Bronner’s
DAVID W. CRANE
CEO, Climate Real Impact Solutions | Former CEO and President, NRG
DAVID PACQUETTE
David Pacquette, CEO, Business2Technology
DAVE PHILLIPS
DORRIT LOWSEN
President and COO, Change Finance
Dr. MO IBRAHIM
Founder, Mobile Systems International | Founder, Celtel | Founding Chairman, Satya Capital Limited | Founder and Chair, Mo Ibrahim Foundation
DR. PHILIP TEE
Founder and CEO, Moogsoft Inc
ED FLETCHER
Co-Managing Director, Shape History
ELISSA SHUCK
President and CEO, ES-STRATEGIC, LLC
ELIZABETH CHAMBERS
Operating Partner, Searchlight Capital
ELLIE KANNER
CEO, Forever Sunny Productions | Just To Be Clear Productions | The Game Plan Game LLC
EVE WILDRICK
Founder and President, Executive Interiors Inc.
FELIX PFREUNDTNER
Owner, Xilev UG
FLOYD ALBEE
CEO, Prevalent Projects
FRANCOIS-HENRI PINAULT
GARETH PARKER
CEO, Raphael Rowe Foundation
GEORGE TURNER.
Co-Founder and CEO, Carneys Community
GINA LYNELL SMITH
Founder, BizDesign.digital
GORI YAHAYA
Founder and CEO, UpSkill Digital
GUILHERME LEAL
Co-founder and Co-chair Natura & Co | Co-founder Instituto Ethos
HELENE GAYLE, MD, MPH
President and CEO, The Chicago Community Trust | Former President & CEO CARE USA
HUBERT JOLY
Former Chairman and CEO, Best Buy | Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School
HUGH LENON
Private Equity and Prison Charity Chairman
IQRA SHAIKH
Founder and CEO, Tutoring in Teams
ISABELLE KOCHER
JACK D’AURORA
Partner, The Behal Law Group LLC
JAMES FELLOWES
Founder, The Bridge of Hope (Inclusive Talent Portal)
JARED SMITH
Co-founder, Qualtrics
JASON FLOM
CEO, Lava Media
JATIN MAHINDRA
Founder, Jatin Mahindra
JAUME MIQUEL NAUDI
Chairman and CEO, Tendam Global Fashion Retail
JAVIER GARCIA SAZ
CEO and Founder, AnunciaWebs
JEAN OELWANG
President and Founding CEO Virgin Unite | Former Co-CEO Virgin Mobile Australia
JEFFREY SCALES
Managing Principal, JSA Sustainable Wealth Management
JERRY GREENFIELD
Co-founder, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
JOANNA REES
Managing Partner, West Ventures
JOHN C. HARRINGTON
President and CEO, Harrington Investments, Inc.
JOHN KAY
CEO, Realize Strategies
JOHN O’FARRELL
JOHN REPLOGLE
Founding Partner, One Better Ventures | Former CEO, Seventh Generation Inc
JOHN ROST
Founder and CEO, Ace Oasis Ltd
JOHN RUSH
Founder and CEO, CleanTurn | 180 Demo | Third Way Café
JOHNNY WEBB
CEO, HiddenLight Productions
JON WRIGHT
Co-Founder, Innocent Drinks
JONATHAN OUELLETTE
Co-Founder and Creative Director, KILL 2 BIRDS
JOE DELOSSFounder, Hot Chicken Takeover
JOSH ZINNER
CEO, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
JULIA ALBEE
CFO, Prevalent Projects
JULIO SALINAS LOMBARD
Founder and CEO, Salinas Consultores
KATIE DAVIES
US Editor, The Independent
KETZ HARIA
Ketz Haria, Director, Dey, King, Haria
KRISTINA TOUZENIS
Managing Partner, BST Impact
KRIZ TAN
Co-Owner and Director, Alphavertex Communications Pte Ltd
KYLER CARTER
Professor of Development Disabilities
L. WILLIAMSON
COO, CAA Family Office
LAUREN McCANN
Founder and CEO, Calliope Advisors
LOGAN MARTIN
President, Skyline Strategies, LLC
LUCKY XAZI
Founder, Smart LUX Marketing
MAC BARTINE
CEO, SmartRIA
MAMIE KANFER STEWART
Founder, Meeteor
MARC BENIOFF
Chairman and CEO, Salesforce
MARCUS BULLOCK
CEO, Flikshop
MARISA TENDERO
Non-Executive Chairwoman , NOABRANDS
MARK HAMADE
Co-Founder, CanEth
MARTHA LANE FOX
Chair, WeTransfer | Director, Twitter | Director, Chanel | Chancellor, Open University
MARY-CLAIRE MULLIGAN
Partner and Director, Trial Litigation
MATTHEW STEPKA
Managing Partner, Machina Ventures
MATS GRANRYD
MELISSA FRIESENBOURG
Owner, Balanced Spirit Pilates
MERCK MERCURIADIS
Founder and CEO, Hipgnosis Songs Fund
MICHAEL CONN
Founder, Bigger Than Us
MICHAEL KRAMER
Managing Partner, Natural Investments
MICHELLE CIROCCO
Chief Impact Officer and Executive Director, Televerde | Televerde Foundation
MIKE NOVOGRATZ
Founder and CEO, Galaxy Digital
MILES DALLY
CEO, RCL FOODS
MO CHOUMIL
CEO, Safi Virtual
MORDECHAI GABAI
Head of Studio, Schizotypy Game Development Ltd
NICK McKEOWN
NICOLAS DEBRAY
President, Americas, The Body Shop
NICOLAS GIROTTO
NICOLAS PATRICK
Global Head of Responsible Business, DLA Piper
OSCAR WESTRA VAN HOLTHE
Founder, Teamcoach Zuidas
PAUL GRAHAM
Founder, Y Combinator
PAUL J. FRIBOURG
PAUL POLMAN
Co-founder and Chair, IMAGINE | Former CEO, Unilever
PEDRO HERNANDES
Founder, HBFS
PEDRO PARENTE
Chairman and Former CEO, BRF | Founding Partner, EB Capital | Former CEO, Petrobras
PIERRE DUBUC
Co-Founder and CEO, OpenClassrooms
RAPHAEL ROWE
Founder, Raphael Rowe Foundation
RICCARDO BELLINI
President and CEO, Chloe
RIZVAN RAJA
Founder and CEO, Rizuma Ltd
ROBERT F. SMITH
Founder, Chairman & CEO, Vista Equity Partners
RON CONWAY
Founder, SV Angel
RYAN BALL
Ryan Ball, Director, Ryan Ball Photography
SALLY JEWELL,
Former CEO, REI
SANDRO SALSANO
Chairman, Salsano Family Office | President, Salsano Group
SANJAY AGGARWAL
Founder and CEO, IPS
SATISH AGGARWAL
Founder, S&J Leisure Group
SARA PRICE
Founder, Actually
SARAH ADOLPHSON
Co-CEO, The Artemis Agency
SARAH BEST
CEO, Sarah Best Strategy
SARAI JACOB-WHELAN
SCOTT BUDNICK
CEO, One Community | Founder, The Anti-Recidivism Coalition
SHENALY AMIN
Director, Iconik Ltd
SHERYL SANDBERG
COO, Facebook | Founder, LeanIn.org
SITAL PUNJA
Founder, Threads-London
SONIA KOWAL
President, Zevin Asset Management
STEFANIE REINHOLD
Founder, HorseHaus LLC
STEPHANIE MELODIA
CEO, Bloom Consulting Ltd
STEPHEN LUCKMAN
Partner, Sheridans
STEVE BENNETT
Co-Founder, Health Results
STRIVE MASIYIWA
Founder and Executive Chairman, Econet Group
SUSAN OZAWA PEREZ
Senior Portfolio Manager, Impact Investors
SUSAN WHITMORE
Founder and CEO, Grief Haven
SVEIN TORE HOLSETHER
President and CEO, Yara International
SYLVIA COLEMAN
Co-Founder and Principal, BPureSounds
TERESA HENNING
Director, Moneymasternow
TOM LYTTON-DICKIE
Founder and CEO, Meaningful Business
TONY FERNANDES
Group Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia Group | Chairman and Founder, Tune Group
VANESSA BAKEWELL
Global Client Partner, Facebook
WERNER BAUMANN
CEO, Bayer
WOUTER MURRAT
Founder, Owner & CEO, Vof Mepilan
YINKA SONUBI
CEO, TJR&M
