Students act against death penalty

by: jenna stevens
Features Editor

This week marks the 2005 National Weekend of Faith in Action, which was created to oppose the use of the death penalty here in the United States and around the world. The death penalty is currently used in 38 states including Illinois.

While Iowa does not currently have the death penalty, it is being looked at as an alternative for individuals convicted of a federal crime. Legislation to introduce the death penalty to Iowa is currently underway.

There have already been 986 executions preformed in the United States with the 1,000th one scheduled before the end of the year.

In protest of the death penalty, SAU’s Amnesty International held a number of anti-death penalty activities on Wednesday, November 16th.

The activities included a letter-signing table in lower Cosgrove with letters containing pleas to offer the inmate’s life in prison rather than the sentence of death.

Members say writing and signing letters is an important way to get involved in what is going on. By signing one letter an individual makes the plea of 100 people in the United States.

Every letter that is written counts as 100 voices so the more letters that are signed, the greater the impact will be on the legislative bodies who organize and run the states punishment practices.

Amnesty is also showing a video entitled "The Empty Chair: Death Penalty Yes or No". This video was produced by Victor Teich, co-founder of Justice Productions, and tells the stories of the families of four who are forced to relive the crimes and tell the stories about the loss of their loved ones.

After the video, Amnesty set up another letter writing table in the Beehive as well as one in the chapel after mass.

"I hope that our day of action against the death penalty will help educate our campus community about this controversial issue," said Katy Strzepek, faculty advisor for St. Ambrose University's Amnesty International.

"We want to show people multiple reasons why the Death Penalty is wrong. It’s racist; it does not deter crime, and it costs more than life in prison. If the United States wants to be an international leader in terms of human tights, we must abolish the death denalty."

For additional information about the death penalty or to find out ways to help stop Iowa from legalizing it, visit AmnestyInternational.org or deathpenaltyinfo.org.