Willow's Pagan Place, Pg 14

Each year, two more nations have
added their names to the list of
countries that have abolished the
death penalty. A majority of the world's
nations have now put an end to capital
punishment in law or practice.

The U.N. human rights Commision
has added a resolution calling for all
natons that continue to execute to restrict
the number of offenses for which the for
which the death penalty may be imposed and
to suspend executions with a view toward
abolishing the death penalty

While the world has moved away from
the death penalty, recognizing that
there is no worthwhile goal that requires
a government to commit state-sanctioned
murder, the United States of America continues
to accelerate the pace of executions. The
The US executes an average of six people
each month, and as of January 1999, over
3,500 men and women were on death row.
The death penalty was reinstated in 1976 ,yet
75% of executions have occured since 1990.

" The death penalty is no more a deterrent than life
imprisonment. It is also evident that the burden
of capital punisgment falls upon the poor, the ignorant
and the underpriviliged members of society."

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty
irrrespectively of issues of guilt, innocence,
or sanity. For the diminshing group of countries
that resort to capital punishment, international
human rights standards seek to restrict its use
with a view to abolition.

For example, 1997, the UN special Rapportuer
on extrajuduicial, summary, or arbitrary
stated that governments which continue to use
the death penalty "with respect to minors and
the mentally ill are particularly called upon
to bring thier domestic legislation into confomrmity
with international legal standards.

Please write to Senator Feingold, expessing your
appreciation for the Senate bill he introduced
and his ongoing work to abolish the death penalty
in the United States. Please send a copy of your
letter to Senator Feingold with a cover letter
expressing your support of the bill to the two US
Senators from your state. Ask that your elected
officials support the Feingold Bill to eliminate
the federal death penalty.

Senator_________________
United States Senate............
Washington DC 20510.........

After years of bills expanding the death penalty, this is the first bill receiving
 serious consideration in the Congress that begins to turn the tide back towards abolition.
Implementation of the death penalty in the U.S. remains arbitrary and
 fraught with racial discrimination and mistake. According to a study by 
Radelet and Bedau, in the last 100 years, 23 innocent people have been executed.
Innocent defendants are convicted because eyewitnesses make mistakes,
 occasionally police or jailhouse snitches lie, prosecutors hide evidence and
 inexperienced or incompetent defense lawyers provide poor representation.
 Some inmates have actually been represented by lawyers who slept during the
 trial! proven that innocent people are scheduled for execution. Since 1973, 87
 inmates have been freed from death row due to wrongful convictions--eight
 of those due to DNA evidence.  More often innocence is proven by other means.
Death row releases are not an indication that the system is working:
many of those released proved their innocence only thanks to volunteer
lawyers or activists who investigated their case. For example, a man on
 death row in Illinois was exonerated thanks to a college journalism 
class' investigation. He had come within two days of his execution.
The Innocence Protection Act represents a first step towards
 restricting, suspending, and abolishing the death penalty.

Act Now!
Please contact your Senators or Representative and ask them to cosponsor and 
support S. 2690 (in the Senate) H.R. 4167 (in the House) to ensure that
 those accused of capital offences are afforded an opportunity to prove
 their innocence through DNA testing and are afforded competent legal counsel.