Death Penalty In The United States

EDM number 851 in 1999-00, proposed by Hilary Benn on 13/06/2000.

That this House notes the recent report by Columbia University which describes America's capital punishment system as flawed because more than two-thirds of convictions have to be overturned on appeal; notes with concern that the state of Texas has executed 218 people, more than any other state and about a third of the country's total, since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976; welcomes the fact that the state of Illinois has recently suspended all executions because of doubts about the guilt of those on death row; and calls on the Government to urge all American states to suspend capital punishment in the interests of justice and humanity.

This motion has been signed by a total of 65 MPs, 2 of these signatures have been withdrawn.