Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 31, 2021 02:06 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Christopher M. Rabb and Rep. Francis X. Ryan |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Death Penalty Repeal |
One innocent life taken at the hands of the state is one too many Please join us in our bipartisan effort to repeal the death penalty in Pennsylvania. It is not only an ineffective deterrent to violent crime, but also an incredibly costly and flawed system of punishment. Pennsylvania has exonerated ten men from death row, three of them in 2020. Furthermore, we know that when a person is convicted of the death penalty, they will start an appeal process lasting decades, making it more likely that they die of old age rather than lethal injection. Virginia has joined the 21 other states and the District of Columbia that have abolished the death penalty. There is a clear trend away from capital punishment. Few of the states with the death penalty on the books are carrying out executions. One innocent life taken at the hands of the state is one too many Public support for the death penalty is the lowest in a half-century. The number of individuals on PA’s death row and the number of new death sentences has been declining steadily since the late 1990s. So have the number of new death sentences. In the last four years, PA has had only two death sentences. There are also incredible risks and irreparable injustices of having the death penalty. The risks of continuing the death penalty far outweigh the benefits, to which, there are few, if any. One innocent life taken at the hands of the state is one too many! |
Introduced as HB999