THE TIME TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY IS NOW!

The start of 2007 could be the beginning of the end of the death penalty in the United States.


Executions are on hold in over a dozen states, and botched executions have put the lethal injection process under increasing scrutiny. In effect, as the United States rang in the New Year, half the country was not practicing capital punishment.


In 1976, the Supreme Court reinstated the use of the death penalty, declaring that the problems associated with it were solved. More than thirty years later, the shameful record is clear: the death penalty continues to be applied in an inhumane, unjust, anti-poor and racist manner.


Capital punishment's flaws are built into the system. And no tinkering with the machinery of death can fix them.


The death penalty is used disproportionately against people of color, especially African Americans, who are 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for more than 40 percent of prisoners on death rows across the country. Prosecutors are far more likely to seek the death penalty if the victim is white than Black--80 percent of victims in all death penalty cases are white, and only 14 percent are Black. When it comes to the death penalty, the lives of people of color are valued less than those of whites.


Capital punishment is reserved for the poor in the United States. Over 90 percent of those on death row could not afford legal representation. More plainly stated, those without the capital get the punishment.


The parade of innocent people released from death row--now more than 120 since reinstatement of the death penalty--is living proof that the death penalty is too flawed to fix. The recent debate over lethal injection shines a light on how the states and federal government put people to death, and whether their methods constitute cruel and unusual punishment. But mixing the chemicals differently is no solution.


Abolishing the death penalty is.


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Signatures | Total: 1,675

 

# First NameLast NameStateCountrySchool, Organization, UnionComments:
101 RenéLECOUSTREFRAs it is just be done now in France abolishion of death penalty must be in US Constitution definitively written
102 PaulaSkillicornMOUS
103 AnonymousAnonymousFR
104 AnonymousAnonymousOKUS
105 nadinericciIT2007 , STOP THE DEATH PENALTY
106 JonathanWexlerGAHow long until we finally stop the state-sanctiioned murder? Abolish the Death Penalty now!
107 KellyEpsteinTXUS
108 Noel ECainAUThe death penalty is an abomination anywhere. In the United States of America it is abhorrent. If one is of a minority group, of poor circumstances or Negroid, one is more than likely to be sentenced to death. The United States of America will be judged harshly by history with regard to this death penalty epoch Noel E Cain (Australia)
109 JohnWoodTXUSPastorLet God arise and His enemies be scattered.
110 MatthewPillischerPAUSInternational Socialist Organization
111 ScottLangleyNYUS
112 LauraBlueWAUSABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY NOW!!! LET GOD BE THE JUDGE
113 LuisaBrehmPT
114 CarissaHansenTXUS
115 mariaweickPA
116 JoãoBrehmPT
117 KathleenGrovesILUSnoneWhy cause another death? If they get "life", they wouldn't have a life still. Only God should chose when someone dies.
118 AlanMaassILUSSocialist Worker newspaper
119 LaceyRyan-MillarDEUSLaSalle University
120 DavidGregalDCUSDC Campaign to End the Death PenaltyThey say Death Row! We say hell no!
121 AngelinaChavez EspudoCAUS
122 sandiestaffordGBabolish the death penalty now, does not bring closure brings more victims, stop this bombaric act now
123 JoAnnRawertKY"Why do we kill people who kill people to prove killing people is wrong."
124 JohnCampTXUSInternational Socialist Organization, Austin.Power.
125 StelaVasquesPT
126 LindaGoodmanILUS
127 KennethLynnOHUSStudio Vigiem/NCADP/OTSE/AMNESTYRacist, discriminatory, arbitrary, hypocritical, anachronistic, inhumane, barbaric, uncivilized, unconstitutional, stupid. Take your pick.
128 JanetCondermanMOUS
129 K.BandellCAUS
130 SusanBrowningWVUS
131 DavidJenkinsGBFor a nation to claim itself the most civilised, refined and progressive nation in the world and yet retain the death penalty is utterly hypocritical and beyond even the most basic of common sense.
132 ClareBrennanAU
133 ColeenWillisARUSWe aren't living in Old Testament times...an eye for an eye. It is totally barbaric!
134 GarrySpitzerTXUSThe Campaign to END the Death Penalty Corpus Christi Tx..
135 FrancesHildrethCAThe parade of innocent people released from death row--now more than 120 since reinstatement of the death penalty--is living proof that the death penalty is too flawed to fix. The recent debate over lethal injection shines a light on how the states and federal government put people to death, and whether their methods constitute cruel and unusual punishment. But mixing the chemicals differently is no solution.
136 SarahMacaraegILUSCampaign to End the Death Penalty--ChicagoThe death penalty is racist, targets the poor, and condemns the innocent to die. Abolition Now!
137 KenHidreth
138 PatFoleyCAUSCampaign to End the Death PenaltyThe time is NOW to do the right thing.
139 SamanthaGrayNCUSI am so ashamed of my country for not getting ride of the death penalty and never looking back...
140 ClaudiaWhitmanMEUSEqual Justice USA; CURE
141 RyanFurfaroILUSCampaign to End the Death Penalty - DePaul Chapter
142 RobertQuellosILUSUniv. of Illinois at Chicago
143 AnonymousAnonymousFRstop barbarie
144 bettymallorcaCAUS
145 DebbieNegroAUWake up America and stop this inhumane v=cruelty.Solves nothing and deters none
146 ErikJack
147 BarbaraRaval KincyCHA.I.It's time to abolish this cruel punishment, it only creates more victims!
148 CrystalBybeeCAUSCampaign to End the Death Penalty
149 AnonymousAnonymous
150 StephenConditFI

 

Signatures | Total: 1,675