Write to Governor Heineman to Voice your Support for Abolishing the Death Penalty in Nebraska

Governor Dave Heineman's opposition to LB 1063, which would abolish the death penatly in Nebraska and replace it with life in prison without the possibility of parole, is one of the few remaining impediments to actually abolishing the death penalty in Nebraska.

In his statements of support for the death penalty, Governor Heineman asserts that an "overwhelming majority of Nebraskans support the death penalty." That statement is not accurate according to a survey of Nebraskans completed by Myers Research Services last spring.

We need to let the Governor that indeed a majority of Nebraskans support LB 1063.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Death Penalty

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As a Nebraskan and a person of faith, I am urging you to end your campaign to continue the death penalty in Nebraska, and to support LB 1063.

In your comments supporting the death penalty, you state that "an overwhelming majority of Nebraskans support the death penalty." However, according to a survey conducted by Myers Research Services last Spring, 51 percent of Nebraskans support repealing the death penalty in Nebraska and replacing it with life imprisonment. Moreover, 62 percent of Nebraskans agree "the death penalty is too arbitrary because some people are executed while others serve serve prison time for the same crime." Finally, 60 percent of Nebraskans agree that "defendants who can afford good lawyers almost never receive the death penalty."

I also find your claim of being fiscally conservative inconsistent with your continued support of the death penalty in Nebraska. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that one who is sentenced to death must be afforded every opportunity under the law to challenge that sentence at the state's cost. Consequently, executing someone in Nebraska is six times more costly than keeping him/her in prison for the rest of his/her life.

It is time to put an end to political posturing and pursue the course a majority of Nebraskans truly support: replacing the death sentence with life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 21, 2008

Background Information

Life in prison without the possibility of parole adequately protects society and is less expensive to enforce than is the death penalty.

Many people who have been sentenced to death were later exonerated by DNA evidence.

The recent Nebraska Supreme Court ruling leaves the state's ability to carry out death sentences in doubt.

The ELCA's Social Statement on the Death Penalty offers sound theological, ethical and moral reasons to oppose the death penalty. The Social Statement reminds us that, as a community of faith, our primary concern when violence rocks a community is to work at reconciling the community as much as possible. The death penalty does nothing to work toward reconciliation.