Sample Letter to District Attorney - Seeks Death Penalty LESS

Dear District Attorney [NAME]:

I wanted to take the opportunity today to thank you for choosing not to seek the death penalty in our county.  I’m proud that I live in a County that has had only [insert # of death sentences] death sentences in the last 30 years, which means we have not wasted millions of dollars pursuing death penalty trials as other California counties have.  In fact, California counties that still use the death penalty are in the minority - in the past 10 years, 86% of death sentences came from only 10 of California’s 58 counties.  The vast majority of District Attorneys, like you, have effectively replaced the death penalty with permanent imprisonment. I applaud that trend.

Indeed, the tide is turning across the United States from death sentences to permanent imprisonment. A growing number of states are choosing permanent imprisonment over the death penalty, fueled by growing concerns about the wrongful conviction of innocent people and the high costs of the death penalty in comparison to permanent imprisonment. In 2009, the number of new death sentences nationwide reached the lowest level since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.  Conversely, California saw an increase in death sentences.  Last year we added a staggering 29 new people to our bloated death row – 13 of which were from Los Angeles County alone.  Within the first three months of 2010, California has already experienced 6 new death sentences (3 of which are from Riverside County.)

I write today to thank you and also to urge you to continue down this path and bring this shift away from the death penalty to the larger community of California District Attorneys.  The movement to end the death penalty in California needs the voices of decisions makers such as you that hold the power to decide when to use the death penalty and when to say no.  We need your voice to convince the Los Angeles and Riverside Counties of the state to stop wasting our precious resources on this dysfunctional death penalty system.  

You can also view an interactive map and the ACLU’s latest report on death sentences in California at www.aclunc.org/deathindecline.  

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

[YOUR ADDRESS]