Don't Let Arizona Restart Executions
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey
On April 6, 2021, it was reported that State Attorney General Mark Brnovich has asked the Arizona Supreme Court to issue execution warrants for two death-row inmates in what would be the state’s first executions in almost seven years.
Arizona put executions on hold after the 2014 death of Joseph Wood, who was given 15 doses of a two-drug combination over two hours. His attorney said the execution was botched. In fact, Arizona has badly botched four executions in as many years.
To resume executions, while the majority of states have abandoned the death penalty in either law or practice, is in direct opposition to the evolving standards of decency in our country. Also, it turns out the state spent over $1 million to procure drugs for executions, even as so many of its citizens are suffering the economic impacts of the pandemic.
Furthermore, it is important to note that Black people account for just 5.2 percent of the state’s population, but 16 percent of the state’s 116-person death row. Arizona has sentenced nearly a quarter of all Native Americans facing the death penalty in the United States.
Please sign this petition to let officials in Arizona know that resuming executions is the wrong thing to do.
Sponsored by
To:
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey
From:
[Your Name]
In response to the Arizona Attorney General's request that two execution dates be set for death row prisoners Clarence Dixon and Frank Atwood, we the undersigned demand that you do everything in your power to make sure this does not happen.
Arizona has not held an execution in seven years. And when the state last carried out the death penalty, it badly botched four executions in as many years. To resume executions, while the majority of states have abandoned the death penalty in either law or practice, is in direct opposition to the evolving standards of decency in our country.
Furthermore, it is important to note that Black people account for just 5.2 percent of the state’s population, but 16 percent of the state’s 116-person death row. Arizona has sentenced nearly a quarter of all Native Americans facing the death penalty in the United States.
Please take a serious look into this matter and ensure that Dixon, Atwood, and any future death row prisoners are spared this barbaric and racist practice.