The DEATH Penalty

The death penalty is the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights. By working towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, Amnesty International USA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty looks to end the cycle of violence created by a system riddled with economic and racial bias and tainted by human error. Please join us in taking action against the death penalty.

Program

Opening Remarks, Introduction, & History of the Death Penalty from a Catholic perspective.

The Death Penalty

Speech by James Megivern: "The Need For A Higher Ethic - Waking The Sleeping Giant".

The Death Penalty

Speech by Former Florida Chief Justice Kogan

Demand an End to Child Executions

Since 2000, only five countries are known to have executed juvenile offenders: China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Pakistan, and the USA. 13 of these 21 executions have been in the USA. On January 21, 2004, Amnesty International launched its Stop Child Executions campaigning action to end this "shameful practice" once and for all.

Join Efforts to End State Sponsored Killing in the USA

Since 1977, over 900 people have been executed in the USA; there are currently around 3,500 men and women on death row across the country. Grassroots activists throughout the USA play an essential role in advocating against this human rights violation through monitoring cases, mobilizing around upcoming events, and lobbying for anti-death penalty legislation.

Encourage Worldwide Abolition

Around 118 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. 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. China, Iran, the United States, and Viet Nam account for 84% of the executions recorded by Amnesty International in 2003.

Seek Understanding - Mental Illness - Mental Retardation

The execution of those with mental illness or "the insane" is clearly prohibited by international law and virtually every country in the world. Despite these standards, and constitutional law, the USA continues to execute people with diagnosed schizophrenia, those that suffer from severe delusions, and others with clinically-labeled mental illnesses. Ford v. Wainwright: U.S. constitutional law is in line with the many international safeguards evident in the 1986 ruling of Ford v. Wainwright that the execution of someone who does not understand the reason for, or the reality of, his or her punishment is unconstitutional.