Felony Murder Elimination Project wants to connect supporters and advocates to an action event tomorrow in Sacramento to urge universal clemency for all death sentences and bring about an end to the death penalty in California.

• 50 Years of the Failed Death Penalty is Enough!
• When – Tues, June 30 at 10:30 am 
• Where – West Steps of the California Capitol, 10th Street, between L and N Streets, in Sacramento

Advocates will mark the 50th anniversary of the return of the death penalty to the United States with the US Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Georgia, the 1976 landmark United States Supreme Court decision that officially upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty in the United States, ending a de facto national moratorium on capital punishment. That decision has failed to eliminate the arbitrariness, racial bias, and geographical randomness that the Court previously condemned in Furman v. Georgia (1972). Critics argue that the “guided discretion” system endorsed by Gregg has not reserved the death penalty for the “worst of the worst.”

Additionally, the application of capital punishment is disproportionately applied based on the race of the victim and the defendant. The legal system frequently shows bias, meaning the death penalty is often reserved for those who kill white victims rather than being applied consistently across all demographics.

Lastly, numerous criminologists and legal scholars have challenged the statistical evidence that capital punishment effectively deters violent crime better than life imprisonment.

Advocates will display a 20 foot banner calling on California Governor Gavin Newsom to commute all death sentences and 560 candles illustrating the number of people under sentence of death in California. Speakers will include leading civil rights and faith leaders. Advocates will deliver petitions to the Governor’s Office urging him to commute all death sentences, and an original work of art, “Justice through Mercy.” 

You can RSVP for the event here –>> June 30 Anti-Death Penalty Action at CA Capitol: 50 Years of the Failed Death Penalty is Enough

Please share within your networks and social media channels, and as always, thank you to our supporters working alongside us to bring about a fairer and more just criminal justice system.