Pressure Mounts on Nebraska Governor Ricketts to Repeal Death Penalty

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The governor of the US state of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, should sign the state’s death penalty repeal bill and show that he is on the right side of history, Amnesty International USA Executive Director Steven Hawkins said in a release.

“Rather than stand in the way, Governor Ricketts should get on the right side of history by signing this bill into law,” Hawkins said on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Nebraska state legislature overwhelmingly passed the LB-268 bill to repeal the death penalty.

Hawkins praised the vote as a “courageous” step.

“Nebraska becomes the latest state to acknowledge that the death penalty is an irrevocably broken and unjust practice,” he said. “The remaining states that retain the death penalty should follow Nebraska’s example and do away with this cruel and inhuman punishment forever.”

Eighteen US states, including Washington, DC, have removed the death penalty and seven other states have not carried out an execution in ten years or more, according to Amnesty International USA.

Only seven states have carried executions in 2014.

Amnesty International USA is the US section of Amnesty International, which has more than three million supporters in its efforts to protect human rights worldwide, according to the organization’s website.