Thread by @millerben33

Today, the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments dealing with the federal government's plan to resume federal executions. AG Barr says the government "owes it" to victims and their families. To be clear–Barr's plan has nothing to do with victims. (1/15) theappeal.org/william-barr-d…

Many victims’ families believe the death penalty prolongs their pain. One study found just 2.5% of victims’ families reported feeling closure after the person convicted of murder was executed. (2/15) deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/studies-d…

A number of victims’ families have told Barr not to do this. Barr is not deterred. One victim’s mother said it would “shame my daughter that someone has to die for her.” (3/15)
cnn.com/2019/12/11/us/…

Another victim’s family said “There’s no reason another person needs to die. … That’s not justice, it’s revenge.” (4/15) themarshallproject.org/2019/09/17/the…

A group of 175 family members wrote a letter to Barr urging him not to resume executions, that the death penalty does not help people like them, that it prolongs their pain, and that resources should be used in far more sensible ways. (5/15)
deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/former-st…

Also, 65 former judges wrote to Barr: “We are chilled by the prospect that people will be killed in the name of our federal government despite serious questions about the fairness and reliability of the system that condemned them.” (6/15) reut.rs/2NqPq4x

The judges are correct: the death penalty has proven unfair, unreliable, and unfixable. It does not deter crime. States without the death penalty have had lower murder and violent crime rates than states with it every single year since 1990. (7/15) deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-rese…

@eji_org With 166 people freed from death row for wrongful conviction since 1976 that means for every nine people this country has executed in that span, it has had to release one person from death row due to wrongful conviction. (8/15) eji.org/issues/death-p…

And right now, innocent people are locked in cells on death row. The National Academy of Sciences estimates that at least 25% of people sentenced to death may be innocent. (9/15)
newsweek.com/one-25-execute…

@DPInfoCtr It's a near certainty innocent people have been executed. The Death Penalty Information Center documents at least 15 people—not an exclusive list—executed in the US since 1973 who very likely were innocent, including six since 2015. (10/15)
deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/…

And the death penalty is racist. Black people account for over 40% of the death row population and 34.1% of all executions since 1977. (11/15)
prisonpolicy.org/blog/2016/08/1…

On the other hand, black people are the victim in cases where there has been an execution only 13% of the time, compared to white people who are the victim 70% of the time when a person is sentenced to death. (12/15)
deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/exe…

Of the over 1500 executions in the U.S. since 1973, just 34 times has a white person been executed for killing a black person. A black person has been executed more than 300 times for killing a white person. (13/15)
deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/exe…

Barr, like many committed to failed tough-on-crime policies, uses a claimed commitment to victims to further his own agenda. But when it comes to actually helping victims heal and feel heard, Barr and those like him suddenly don't care as much. (14/15) nytimes.com/2019/03/03/opi…

The death penalty is a cruel, racist, flawed, failed, and costly punishment. Don’t let a claimed commitment to theoretical victims distract from the truth. As a recent Washington Post headline proclaimed, “The death penalty is unworthy of America.” (15/15) washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-d…