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To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate

Abolish the Death Penalty

Abolish the death penalty: save millions of dollars for children's education, and stand up to unjust discrimination.

Why is this important?

California spends about $137 million every year on death penalty trials, but there has not been an execution for 3.5 years. Florida spends about $51 million every year on death penalty trials. This money could be going towards children's education.

The death penalty may be another form of the Jim Crow laws. People who are discriminated against are determined guilty until proven innocent.

- Innocent men like Duane Buck, Todd Mitchell, and Anthony Porter have been convicted of murder. According to MotherJones magazine, "Texas inmate Duane Buck was sentenced to death after racist testimony from a psychologist who said Buck's race made him inherently more dangerous. Illinois' Anthony Porter who, after 16 years on death row, walked out of prison 48 hours before his scheduled execution thanks to Northwestern journalism students who proved his innocence. Texas' Cameron Todd Mitchell wasn't as fortunate. A forensic group proved he was innocent of setting a house [on] fire that killed his children five years after his execution."

- Amnesty stated, "Of the 500 prisoners executed between 1977 and the end of 1998, more than 81 percent were convicted of the murder of a white, even though blacks and whites are the victims of homicide in almost equal numbers nationwide."

- With Franklin's new bill, HB 1, in Georgia, women who have miscarriages will be convicted of murder.

Category

Updates

2020-12-11 19:48:50 -0500

100,000 signatures reached

2020-12-11 01:25:15 -0500

50,000 signatures reached

2020-12-10 22:14:13 -0500

20,000 signatures reached

2020-12-10 21:41:07 -0500

10,000 signatures reached

2020-12-10 21:26:04 -0500

5,000 signatures reached

2020-12-10 21:10:09 -0500

1,000 signatures reached

2020-12-10 21:05:04 -0500

500 signatures reached

2020-07-12 21:33:55 -0400

100 signatures reached

2020-06-06 00:31:33 -0400

50 signatures reached