Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act of 2021
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Background
Despite overwhelming evidence against the death penalty, the Trump administration resumed federal executions for the
first time in 17 years on July 14, 2020. Since then, the federal government has executed 10 Americans. Capital
punishment is unjust, biased, and defective, and the United States stands alone among its peers in executing its own
citizens. This barbaric punishment denies the dignity and humanity of all people, but it is disproportionately applied to
people who are Black, Latinx, and poor. For example, Black people make up less than 13 percent of the nation’s
population while accounting for more than 42 percent of those on death row.
1
A nationwide study found that at least 1
in 25 people sentenced to death are innocent.
2
Research also reveals that capital punishment does not deter crime.
3
There is therefore no just reason to continue the death penalty.
The bicameral Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act would end the use of state-sanctioned murder by the U.S.
Department of Justice. Specifically, this bill would:
• Prohibit the imposition of the death penalty as punishment for any violation of federal law; and
• Require the re-sentencing of those previously sentenced to death row.
With three more individuals scheduled to be executed in the final days of the Trump administration, Congress must
urgently pass this legislation and bring an end to this barbaric practice.
ENDORSEMENTS (242):
Abolitionist Action Committee
ACTIONN
#cut50
Adat Shalom Reconstructionist
Congregation of Bethesda, Maryland
Adrian Dominican Sisters of Adrian,
Michigan
Advocates for Change
American Civil Liberties Union
American Friends Service Committee
Amnesty International France
1
NAACP Death Penalty Fact Sheet, NAACP (2017), https://www.naacp.org/latest/naacp-death-penalty-fact-sheet/.
2
National Academy of Sciences Reports Four Percent of Death Row Inmates are Innocent, INNOCENCE PROJECT (Apr. 28, 2015),
https://innocenceproject.org/national-academy-of-sciences-reports-four-percent-of-death-row-inmates-are-innocent/.
3
Miachel L. Radlelet & Traci L. Lacock, Do executions Lower Homicide Rates?, J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY (2009),
https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/legacy/files/DeterrenceStudy2009.pdf.
Amnesty International Liechtenstein
and Switzerland
Amnesty International USA - Group 15
of Concord, Massachusetts
Amnesty International USA
Amnesty International USA - Group
213 of Raleigh, North Carolina
Amnesty International USA - Group 30
of San Francisco, CA
Amnesty International USA - Group 86
of Cincinnati, Ohio
Amnesty International USA - Groups 9
and 280 of New York City
Amnesty International USA - Nevada
Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty
As the Spirit Moves Us
Assistance Network of CURE
Associates of the Congregation of
Divine Providence
Avon Buddhist Group
Balanced Spirit Pilates (Arizona)
Barnard Prison Abolition Collective
Benedictine Sisters of Chicago
Benedictine University
Brennan Center for Justice
Brookline Pax
Building Bridges
California Attorneys for Criminal
Justice
Campaign to Exonerate Jarvis Jay
Masters
Chance Art
Church of Scientology National Affairs
Office
Church of the Sojourners (San
Francisco, CA)
Citizens for an Informed Community
Claremont Colleges Prison Abolition
Collective
College and Community Fellowship
Columbia Students Against the Death
Penalty
Columbia University Amnesty
International
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity
of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces
Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes
Conservatives Concerned About the
Death Penalty
Consistent Life Network
Crossroads of Iowa
CURE Colorado
CURE International
CURE Iowa
CURE Michigan
CURE Missouri
CURE National Death Row Assistance
Network
CURE Oregon
Death Penalty Action
Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona
Death Penalty Focus
Death Penalty News
Death Penalty Photography Project
Death Row Expressions Inc
Death Row Support Project
Delaware Citizens Opposed to the
Death Penalty
Democratic Socialists of America -
Terre Haute Branch
Destination: Freedom
Devin Coyle Law
Dominican College
Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt
Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids
Dominican Sisters of Hope
Dominican Sisters of Houston
Dominican Sisters of Peace
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa
Dominican Sisters of Sparkill
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker
Drug Policy Alliance
Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth
Justice
Emanuel United Church of Christ,
Philadelphia PA
Ensemble contre la peine de mort
(ECPM)
Episcopal Church of New Hampshire
Episcopal Diocese of Ohio
Episcopal Peace Fellowship
Equal Justice USA
Faithful America
Federal Public and Community
Defenders
Feminists Choosing Life of New York
FIACAT (The International Federation
of ACAT)
Floridians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Franciscan Action Network
Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart
Franklin Community Church
Franklin Community Development
Fraternity du Bon Larron
Freedom Road, LLC
French Coalition Against the Death
Penalty
From Prison II Purpose
Gainesville Citizens for Alternatives to
the Death Penalty
German Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty
Grassroots Alliance for Justice
Greater Terre Haute NAACP
Green Party of Los Angeles County
Heartland Conference UCC
Hidden Voices
Hilton Head for Peace
Hope for Prisoners Task Force,
Unitarian Universalist Church of
Bloomington Indiana / Monroe
County
Human Rights Watch, US Program
Human Rights Working Group, First
Unitarian Universalist Society of San
Francisco
Ignatian Solidarity Network
In the Executioner's Shadow
Documentary Team
Indiana Abolition Coalition
Indiana Catholic Conference
Indianapolis Archdiocese Corrections
Ministry
Innocence Project
Intercommunity Justice and Peace
Center of Cincinnati
Intercommunity Peace & Justice
Center of Seattle
Interfaith Action for Human Rights
Interfaith Communities United for
Justice and Peace
InterFaith Council of the Wabash
Valley
Interfaith Worker Justice - New
Mexico
International Community Corrections
Association
International Public Policy Institute
Jamyang Foundation
Jesuit Conference Office of Justice &
Ecology
Journey of Hope...From Violence to
Healing
Justice Policy Institute
Justice Revival
Justice Roundtable
Kehilla Community Synagogue of
Oakland, CA
Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty
Kentucky Criminal Justice Forum
Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
Law Office of Jennifer Appleyard
League of Women Voters of Nevada
Liberons Mumia - Collectif Francais
LIFESPARK
Lost Church - Aberdeen, WA
Midtown Church - Kansas City, MO
Missourians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
MO Citizens for Peace
MO Clergy for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Mobilized African Diaspora - Columbia
University
Montgomery County Civil Rights
Coalition
Muslims for Progressive Values
NAACP Legal Defense and Education
Fund
NAACP Terre Haute Branch
National Advocacy Center of the
Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Alliance of the Mentally Ill -
Huntington, NY
National Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers
National Association of Social
Workers, Illinois Chapter
National Association of Social
Workers, Nevada Chapter
National Capital Crime Assistance
Network/National Death Row
National Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty
National Council of Churches
National Medical Association
Nebraskans for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice
Nevada Coalition Against the Death
Penalty
New Hampshire Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty
New Hampshire Council of Churches
New Jersey Association on Correction
New Vision Organization, Inc
North Carolina Coalition for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty
Other98 Action
Or Hamidbar (Palm Springs)
Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters
Pacifica Peace People
Pacifica Social Justice
Parkway United Church of Christ - St.
Louis, MO
Pax Christi Hilton Head
Pax Christi USA
Pax Christi Ventura Padre Serra
Peace & Justice Action League of
Spokane, WA
Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Picture Social Justice, Inc.
Pilgrim United Church of Christ -
Carlsbad, California
Presentation Sisters S.F. CA
Prison Abolition Prisoner Support
(PAPS)
Project Hope to Abolish the Death
Penalty
Rebecca Read Artist
Reconciliation Commission of the
Episcopal Church of New Hampshire
Reconstructionist Rabbinical
Association
Red Letter Christians
Reed Justice Initiative
Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism
Sacred Heart - Miami, FL
San Diegans Against the Death
Penalty
Santa Maria Youth Abolitionist
School Sisters of St Francis -
Milwaukee, WI
Sentencing Project
Shaare Tefila Congregation - Olney,
MD
Shalom Church of Spokane, WA
Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth
Office of Justice, Peace, and Integrity
of Creation
Sisters of Charity, BVM
Sisters of Mercy NE, NH
Sisters of Mercy of the America
Justice Team
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (EW
Unit)
Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-
the-Woods
Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt, NY
Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, South
Bend, IN
Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Iowa
Sisters of St. Francis, Oldenburg, IN
Sisters of St. Francis, Philadelphia, PA
Sisters of St. Francis, Sylvania
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, LA
Province
Sisters of the Holy Cross
Sisters of the Holy Names
Sisters of the Presentation - Dubuque,
Iowa
SMU Human Rights Program
Social Responsibility
Society of the Sacred Heart US-C
Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity
of Creation
South Dakotans for Alternatives to
the Death Penalty
Southern Center for Human Rights
SPLC Action Fund
Spokane Veterans for Peace 035
Sr. Helen Prejean’s Ministry Against
the Death Penalty
Srs. of St. Joseph of Carondelet in Los
Angeles
Teleologics
Temple Israel of Brookline, MA
Terre Haute Death Penalty Resistance
The Advocates for Human Rights
The Digital Abolitionist
The Interfaith Union
The Ohio Council of Churches
The Promise of Justice Initiative
THE Texas Death Penalty Abolition
Movement
The United Methodist Church -
General Board of Church and Society
Tikkun Olam Chavurah
Tribal Law and Policy Institute
T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human
Rights
Tzedek Association
U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St.
Joseph
Unitarian Universalist Church of
Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of
Poughkeepsie
Unite North Metro Denver
United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops
Uri L'Tzedek
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public
Policy
Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty
Volunteers of America Delaware
Valley
Vote Common Good
Washington Lawyers' Committee for
Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Women's Health, Incarcerated
Women's Rabbinic Network
Woodland Christian Church -
Columbus, OH
World Coalition Against the Death
Penalty
Youth vs. Apocalypse
