Stop the Expansion of the Death Penalty

Many of us celebrated the passing of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act on Friday, a piece of legislation that will allow prosecution of bias-motivated criminals by the Department of Justice. Crimes against people’s gender, disability, and sexual orientation are all included in this definition, expanding upon the current definition of hate crimes, which includes race, religion, color and national origin.

This Act will also allow local authorities to use expanded resources to prevent the crimes in the first place, and federal government to prosecute such crimes in areas where authorities cannot—or will not—prosecute the crimes themselves.

But some of us felt that the other shoe had yet to drop. Indeed, yesterday the Senate gave into our fears by passing an amendment to the Act that allows the death penalty to be used in some cases during the enforcement of the Act.

This amendment, proposed by Senator Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama, is thought to be a tactic to kill the bill in its entirety by activists. Since most of the people who support hate crimes legislation do not support the death penalty, the amendment has created some controversy among supporters; if the death penalty is on the table, many people will simply not support something.

In a letter to the Senate, human rights groups have voiced their opposition to the change in the bill, saying that “the death penalty is irreversible and highly controversial—with significant doubts about its deterrent effect and clear evidence of disproportionate applications against poor people.” They also go on to cite the documented cases of racial bias and inequality used in conjunction of the death penalty in the first place—which sort of negates the whole piece of hate crime legislation if used, as well.

The death penalty has also been dubbed a form of cruel and unusual punishment, with most nations having already outlawed it; it has also been found to be faulty, with many people on death row having been found innocent—or guilty of lesser crimes than murder.

We can still support the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act and make sure the amendment is taken off the table. A House-Senate committee is meeting this fall to balance out the Act and vote on it before it lands on President Obama’s table to be signed into law.

You can help by calling your members of Congress today. If you don’t have their numbers on speed dial (for some odd reason!) you can get them here.