Zambia just abolished the death penalty, one of four nations to have done so in the past year, bringing the total globally to 111 nations that have formally and completely ended legalized killing. At least 140 nations effectively no longer use it. No nation in Europe uses the death penalty. No nation in the Western Hemisphere uses it, except the United States. Fewer than 20 nations are still actively using capital punishment, and most of the legal killings are in four countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once urged getting on the right side of history. The United States -- and your state in particular -- is on the wrong side. In 2022 there were 18 executions in the United States, including of prisoners with serious mental illness, brain damage, intellectual disability, and/or strong claims of innocence, and including prisoners executed over the objections of the victims’ families, and even including prisoners executed despite requests from prosecutors to withdraw their death warrants. The U.S. Supreme Court has made it increasingly difficult for states to retain the death penalty and yet use it with care and limitations. The obvious solution is to end the practice of teaching people not to kill by killing people. Click here to email your state legislators to ban capital punishment in your state.  |
|
