Please legislate to end the death penalty at all levels.
The U.S. has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world.
BUT
High incarceration does not reduce or deter crime.
The U.S. is one of very few prosperous democracies that still executes human beings.
BUT
Execution does not deter crime. It does not bring restitution to the victims of crime.
IF we agree that taking another's life is wrong, then it is wrong no matter who does it. The state does not get a pass.
Execution destroys the humanity of the persons and authorities which carry it out.
The moral horror of erroneous convictions and botched executions is an affront to justice, humanity, and even to God, for those who believe.
I ask you to:
speak out against the death penalty;
to hold hearings on wrongful and botched executions; and demand evidence-based comparative policy studies as the basis for criminal justice.
Show the US what the rest of the world knows:
when you improve living conditions crime rates go down.
When you do NOT operate a for-profit prison system and instead invest in housing, jobs, and education, crime and violence fall. The U.S. prison industry is currently a slave-labor employer enriching mega-corps. This is a disgrace.
I am counting on you to take action: anyone who can change opinions and legislation on the death penalty and criminal justice is complicit in the current regime of horror if they do not speak out.
First sent on October 2 by Mary
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