We oppose the death penalty. 
See why in the video below.

FACT: ‘‘Since 1990, an average of three countries each year have abolished the death penalty, and today, over two-thirds of the world's nations have ended capital punishment in law or practice.’’

Why Amnesty International opposes the death penalty:

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception. The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice. It violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

There can never be any justification for torture or for cruel treatment. Like torture, an execution constitutes an extreme physical and mental assault on an individual. Consider the disgust most people feel when they hear accounts of individuals receiving 100 volts of electricity to sensitive parts of the body as a method of torture. Surely we should feel even more disgusted by the use of 2000 volts applied to a person's body with the intent to deliberately kill? The physical pain caused by the action of killing a human being cannot be quantified, nor can the psychological suffering caused by foreknowledge of death at the hands of the state.

The death penalty is discriminatory and is often used disproportionately against the poor, minorities and members of racial, ethnic and religious communities. It is imposed and carried out arbitrarily.

The death penalty legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by the state and will inevitably claim innocent victims. Since human justice is fallible, the risk of executing the innocent will never be eliminated. Amnesty International continues to demand unconditionally the worldwide abolition of the death penalty.

---

Return to Top or Continue


---

FACTS that the death penalty is NOT a deterrant to crime.


• A New York Times survey, released in September 2000, found that during the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48 percent to 101 percent higher than in states without the death penalty.
  
  
• FBI data showed that 10 of the 12 states without capital punishment have homicide rates below the national average.




---

Return to Top or Continue


---

The EXPENSE of the death penalty -- proves it does not save money:

Capital punishment is a far more expensive system than one whose maximum penalty is life in prison.

A New York study estimated the cost of an execution at three times that of life imprisonment. In Florida, each execution costs the state $3.2 million, compared to $600,000 for life imprisonment. Studies in California, Kansas, Maryland, and North Carolina all have concluded that capital punishment is far more expensive than keeping someone in prison for life.

The greatest costs of the death penalty are incurred prior to and during trial, not in post-conviction proceedings. Even if all post-conviction proceedings were abolished, the death penalty system would still be more expensive than alternative sentences.

More investigative costs are generally incurred in capital cases, particularly by the prosecution. When death penalty trials result in a verdict less than death or are reversed, the taxpayer first incurs all the extra costs of capital pretrial and trial proceedings and must then also pay either for the cost of incarcerating the prisoner for life or the costs of a retrial (which often leads to a life sentence).

The death penalty diverts resources from genuine crime control measures.

"Elimination of the death penalty would result in a net savings to the state of at least several tens of millions of dollars annually, and a net savings to local governments in the millions to tens of millions of dollars on a statewide basis." --Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California Legislature, Sept. 9, 1999

---

Return to Top or Continue

---

Countries:

Use of the death penalty worldwide has continued to shrink, and use of the death penalty has also been increasingly curtailed in international law. On average, in the past decade more than three countries a year have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Despite international human rights standards, some nations still execute people. Around the world, the death penalty is used as a tool of political repression and a means to forever silence political opponents or eliminate politically 'troublesome' individuals.

In 2006, 91 per cent of all known executions took place in six countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the USA.

International law prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by juveniles, yet the execution of child offenders continues in a few countries, particularly Iran.

In February 2002, the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers adopted Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Protocol 13 is the first legally binding international treaty to abolish the death penalty in all circumstances with no exceptions. When it was opened for signature in May 2002, 36 countries signed it.

See the list of International Human Rights Standards which denounce the death penalty; and,  see 2007 statistics on countries and the death penalty.

---

Return to Top or Continue to NY Legislators, etc.

---

New York State

Call your State Assemblyperson or Senator and tell them you're a constituent and don’t want or need the death penalty.

To identify and contact your:

      -- Assembly member visit this site

      -- State Senator, visit this site

Check New York Legislature Bills and Laws, etc.

---

Return to Top

---