League of Women Voters of Illinois^®

Arguments for the Abolition of the Death Penalty:

1. Inadequate legal representation is a better predictor of who is sentenced to death than the facts of the crime.
2. The death penalty system is prone to error to an extent that is unacceptable.
3. That innocent people are being killed is not only possible but likely. The error rate and the fact than any number of the exonerated were saved by luck or at the last minute points to an unacceptable risk of killing innocent people.
4. The death penalty cannot be adequately reformed. Legislation cannot correct flaws such as: eyewitness error, false testimony, police and prosecutorial misconduct, arbitrariness (factors such as geography, race, and class).
5. The international community is moving toward abolition of the death penalty.
6. The death penalty is costly and quite often does not deliver the promised “ultimate justice.” The death penalty is much more expensive than its closest alternative—life imprisonment with no parole.
   Further Discussion of these Arguments

Additional Resources:

• Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
• State Leagues and the Death Penalty ~ A list of State Leagues which have adopted positions on the death penalty or have responded to the death penalty situations in their states in some way.
• LWVUS Death Penalty discussion list ~ A link that enables you to join the discussion of this issue, if you are a League member. (Note: You will be asked to sign in with your email address and password.)
• Resources from LWV National Convention 2006 ~ The materials used to persuade convention delegates to adopt the position, "The League of Women Voters of the United States supports the abolition of the death penalty." The national League now is able to act upon federal death penalty legislation and, in addition, all state Leagues can take action opposing the death penalty in their states.