Seek Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Two recent events have occurred on the issue of capital punishment. A study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences titled “Rate of False Conviction of Criminal Defendants Who Are Sentenced to Death”. The study gives a conservative estimate that 4% of people on death row are innocent. In addition, there was the botched execution in Oklahoma which resulted in the unnecessary suffering of a condemned man. This botched execution was the result of the lack of an understanding of humane executions, if one exists. We ask that the United States government considers the abolition of the death penalty and seek alternative punishments to avoid killing innocents or imposing “cruel and unusual” punishments.