News Archives » death penalty

Help Illinois Abolish the Death Penalty December 2nd, 2010

On November 30, an important victory was achieved in the Illinois State House Judiciary Committee when the committee voted to recommend passage of SB 3539 – the Death Penalty repeal bill. The bill – SB3539 creates a new fund supporting law enforcement training and services for families of murder victims. The bill is now headed to the State’s House floor for a vote.

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Please Take Action to Affirm the Dignity of Human Life September 3rd, 2010

Teresa Lewis is scheduled to be executed September 23, 2010 in Virginia. She was convicted in 2002 of persuading two men to kill her husband and stepson. Teresa Lewis has been on death row in Virginia since June 2003.

Now 41 and a mother and grandmother, Teresa Lewis would be the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912.

In solidarity with the Virginia Catholic Bishops, the U.S. Catholic bishops and the Papal Nuncio, we ask you please to contact Governor McDonnell and urge him to commute Teresa Lewis’s sentence to life in prison.

TAKE ACTION HERE : CONTACT VA GOVERNOR TO STOP EXECUTION SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 23.

Intellectual Underpinnings of Capital Punishment Removed January 5th, 2010

The American Law Institute, which decades ago developed the intellectual support for the modern death penalty and remained one of its last serious advocates, has disavowed the very structure it created and pronounced its death penalty project a failure.

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U.S. Death Penalty Year End Report Released December 30th, 2009

The Death Penalty Information Center has released its 2009 report: “The Death Penalty in 2009: Year End Report.”. It says that the United States is likely to close 2009 with the fewest death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Tight budgets at the State level as a consequence of the persistent economic crisis, coupled with a lack of measurable benefits associated with this punishment, troubled a number of lawmakers – prompting actions in eleven states to consider abolishing the death penalty. This is a significant increase in death penalty legislative action compared to past years, the report said.

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Oppose Senate Amendment to Expand Federal Death Penalty July 20th, 2009

Take Action TODAY:

Oppose a Senate Amendment to Expand the Federal Death Penalty

Today, Monday July 20, 2009 the Senate will again take up the Defense Department authorization bill. Three amendments threaten to weaken the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Prevention Act that was accepted by the Senate last week.

Please forward a link to this alert to your community members, friends & concerned groups: The vote is expected Monday afternoon by 3pm.

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Gov. Richardson Signs Death Penalty Repeal March 20th, 2009

On 18th February, 2009 New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signed into law a bill to repeal the death penalty in that State. This makes New Mexico the second state to abolish the death penalty. The law replaces the death penalty with a sentence of life without possibility of parole.

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