Death Penalty

"The death penalty is no more effective a deterrent
than life imprisonment... It is also evident that the
burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant and the underprivileged members of society."
—United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall

The Rutherford Institute is dedicated to fighting injustices in a broken system.  America’s death penalty system is fraught with mistakes and biases that lead to the wrongful taking of human life.  The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees that no citizen will be denied their life, liberty, or property without the due process of law.  And the Eighth Amendment protects us from cruel or unusual punishments.  But despite these constitutional assurances and mounting evidence that innocent people have been executed for crimes they did not commit, our government continues to hasten the death of hundreds of inmates. 

The Rutherford Institute feels compelled to challenge this horrible system.  We do this by fighting to protect the due process rights of those facing the death penalty and by continuing to educate people on the inherent and deadly flaws of America’s death penalty system.