A recent article by Alan Berlow in the Atlantic Monthly suggests that some innocents might have actually been executed. They would have slipped through the cracks of an inefficient and unequal judicial system. Berlow points out that in 18 death-penalty states there exist no statewide public-defender organizations at all, and that the rest are seriously underfunded. The lower-classes and minorities (African Americans, especially) suffer disproportionately. A 1998 Amnesty International report concluded that the US death penalty is applied in a racist and arbitrary manner. Berlow cites the case of a black man indicted for murder in Georgia who was assigned an eighty-three-year-old former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan as attorney. No wonder that in 1997 the American Bar Association (an impartial national group of practicing lawyers) passed a resolution calling for a halt on executions until courts across the country could ensure that justice was being done. Whatever your feelings about the death penalty in theory, it is clear that, in practice, it has been a failure: innocent people are being killed.

Yet still the slaughter continues. As Christopher Hitchens points out, George W. Bush has signed an execution warrant almost every two weeks since his election as governor of Texas. He is simply an egregious case of the rule: despite the declining crime rate in the US, no leading presidentiual candidate has come out against the death penalty. This petition is sponsored by Slowdown, a student organization at Stanford University dedicated to promoting humane and gentle values in American politics (read more about Slowdown in "About"). We are a non-partisan, non-commercial group; this petitions is concerned only with putting an end to state-sponsored murder. If you support our cause, please fill in the form below. The completed petition will be sent to leading presidential candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as to all viable third party candidates. Click here for a list of candidates who will receive the petition.

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To sign this petition, fill out the fields below and click on submit. Only your name and state will be released to the recipients of this petition (this petition will be mailed to leading presidential candidates; click here to see a list), and we will not reveal any information stemming from this petition to anyone else. Your email address will only be used to verify your identity, and will not be released to any other party. You must be a U.S. citizen to sign this petition.

I support Slowdown's efforts to stop the death penalty in America. As a leading presidential candidate, you have the power to change the terms of debate on this topic; as a potential president, you will be in a position to effect real change. As an American, I ask you to use your voice and authority to hasten the end of state-sponsored killing.