Nevada Coalition Against
the Death Penalty
ELEVATING JUSTICE AND HUMANITY IN OUR STATE
Why Abolition ?
Cost
Every death penalty case costs more than half a million more than a similar first degree murder case where the death penalty is not sought.
Risk of Convicting and Executing Innocent People
At least three men have been released from Nevada's death row after serving decades for crimes they did not commit.
Harm to Victims' Loved Ones
Death penalty cases take decades to litigate, often re-traumatizing victim families and failing to provide legal finality.
Racial Discrimination
The death penalty is racially biased. While only 10% of Nevada’s population is Black, our death row is disproportionately almost 40% Black.
Flawed Process
Death penalty cases are fraught with errors. Nearly 50% of Nevada's death sentences have been overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct or other serious errors.
Mental Health
Nevada stands the untenable risk of executing the mentally ill and disabled. Nearly 25% of people on Nevada's death row have mental illness, intellectual disability or brain damage.
Impacted INDIVIDUALS
Thomas C.
Thomas’ brother was a victim of homicide. He wished for vengeance and for his brother’s killer to be brought to justice. However, his brother’s case never received the same economic resources that death penalty cases do, and remains unsolved.
Thomas, once consumed by thoughts of revenge and retribution, has come to realize that the death penalty would not honor his brother’s life. He has forgiven his brother’s killer and recognizes that killing him for his crime would only bring more death.
Heather S.
Heather was only 8 years old when her father was executed by the State of Texas. She met her father for the first and only time shortly before he was killed. The execution devastated her and her family, leaving her with wounds that she continues to struggle with. From her perspective, the death penalty only creates more victims.
Now a Nevadan, Heather does not want to see another child have to carry the burden of having their parent’s life taken by the death penalty.
