Pax Christi Florida whole heartedly supports Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
People with serious mental illness have inherently limited culpability. As a group, they should not be subject to the death penalty.
We know far more today about the death penalty than we did when Florida enacted its death penalty statute in 1972. The drafters of the statute hoped it would deter violent crime, offer solace to survivors of murder victims, be applied fairly and accurately, and save tax dollars. It has not fulfilled these hopes. Instead, it has proven to be a risky, costly, and harmful policy.
We ask you to sign our petition to exempt people with serious mental illness from the death penalty. We are almost at 1,500 signatures! Please take a moment to sign and share this petition so we can make our goal of 2,000 by October 9!
Now is the time to contact the Florida House (we’ll tackle the Senate later!).
We’re setting up meetings with lawmakers next week, to find the very best sponsors to introduce the bill in the Florida House. It’s crucial they hear support for this legislation from their constituents.
Here are three ways to contact your legislator to prepare them for future legislation to protect people with serious mental illness from the death penalty:
- Use this quick, easy online tool to send an email to your state representative
- Call your state representative. Click here to find your representative and click here for a sample script.
- The best option? Hand write your state representative and let them know why you want people with serious mental illness protected from the death penalty. Here’s our fact sheet on people with serious mental illness for inspiration.
We’ll say it again: thank you. You are making the difference here and with your help, we are going to win!
Yours,
The FADP Team
P.S. We’re asking you to take immediate action to contact their legislators in order to protect people with serious mental illness from the death penalty. You can either send them an email, call them with a sample script, or hand write a letter using our fact sheet for inspiration. And don’t forget to sign and share our petition!
Pax Christi Florida 