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Dear John,
There are many reasons to oppose the death penalty.
The death penalty cannot be administered fairly in a system where the rich have access to better legal representation than the poor.
Convicts on death row are more likely to be Black, poor, and to have mental illness or mental disabilities than others who have been convicted of similar crimes. And the death penalty is more frequently imposed when the victims are white.
On its very face, the death penalty is inhumane. Every execution raises the question of what punishment must be considered “cruel,” and no matter what the execution method, the intentional premeditated infliction of death on a person is cruel. There is great irony in the search for a humane method to carry out an essentially inhumane act.
The death penalty is extremely expensive. By the time all necessary appeals have been made, the cost of a single execution is far greater than the cost of life imprisonment without parole. Further, though there are too few executions to draw firm conclusions on its societal effects, multiple studies have failed to show any deterrent effect of the death penalty on crime.
However, the death penalty does have a negative moral impact on the society that carries it out.
Worst of all, should the convicted person turn out to be innocent, once someone is executed it can never be reversed.
The death penalty is inherently biased against those with limited resources, including people of color, people with disabilities, and those in rural and low-income communities. Sign the petition today and add your voice to the many rising against its use.
In recent years, support for the death penalty has been decreasing in the United States. Based on the evidence of racial bias, four states have recently enacted death penalty moratoriums, and several drug companies now refuse to allow their medications to be used for executions.
According to Gallup, in 2023, for the first time ever, more Americans believed the death penalty is administered unfairly (50%) than fairly (47%). And support for the death penalty overall (53%) is the lowest it has been in the last 50 years.
Yet despite these multiple objections, or perhaps because of them, in keeping with his favorite themes of vengeance and violent retribution, Donald Trump vows to expand the use of the death penalty if elected in 2024.
Indulging in a MAGA fantasy, Trump even proposes bringing back firing squads.
At a recent campaign rally, Trump again expressed his admiration of China’s “brilliant” dictator, saying President Xi “controls 1.4 billion people with an iron hand -- no drug problems. You know why?... Death penalty for the drug dealers.”
The death penalty is flawed, unjust, and discriminatory. It has no place in a just society. Sign the petition: Ban the use of the death penalty now.
Thank you for engaging in the fight against injustice.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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