Greetings, The Nebraska Legislature will take up first round debate on LB 36, the bill to implement lethal injection as Nebraska's new method of execution, on Monday, May 18th at 10:00am. Justice and Advocacy Ministries, ELCA-NE, along with Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, asks you to join us on Monday at the State Capitol in Lincoln to watch the Legislature debate LB 36. We are going to pack the visitor's gallery during the debate to bear powerful silent witness to the growing number of Nebraskan's who want an end to the death penalty! Those who support an end to the death penalty will be dressed in white. We encourage you to come to the capitol early and stop by your Senator's office. Senators are often in the office between 8:30 - 9:00am. Respectfully let him or her know where you stand. If you cannot come until later or cannot stay for the entire debate, that is just fine--come when you can! If you are unable to make it you can watch the debate live by clicking on Main Legislative Chamber at this link?http://www.netnebraska.org/publicmedia/capitol.html.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As a person of faith, I am strongly opposed to the death penalty.

The death penalty, as it is used in Nebraska, is flawed and biased in that it is more likely a person of low economic means who murders a person of higher economic means will be more likely to be sentenced to death.

All of the mainline protestant denominations as well as the Roman Catholics have carefully studied the death penalty from a Christian perspective and have determined there is no Christian justification for its use. The Jewish tradition, from which the concept of "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" comes, no longer supports the death penalty.

When a violent crime is committed in our community, we, as Christians look to how we can bring healing and restoration back to the community. The death penalty does not do anything other than provide a means for vengeance. It does not restore the community in any way.

The threat of the death penalty is used as a tool to obtain confessions from people who are not guilty, including six people from the Beatrice area who spent more than 20 years in prison for a murder they did not commit, and two young men from the Syracuse area who were accused of murdering their relatives, but were later exonerated.

I urge you to follow the courageous actions of New Jersey and New Mexico whose legislative bodies have recently abolished the death penalty.

As a constituent, I strongly urge you to vote against LB 36.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 14, 2009