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Eight Planned Executions in Arkansas 'Out of Step' With US Opinion - NGO

© Flickr / sean hobsonNebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Stacy Anderson claims that the political battle to abolish the death penalty in the US state of Nebraska has become an issue of conscience for the state’s Senators, advocacy group
Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Stacy Anderson claims that the political battle to abolish the death penalty in the US state of Nebraska has become an issue of conscience for the state’s Senators, advocacy group - Sputnik International
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Advocacy group Equal Justice USA Executive Director Shari Silberstein claims that Asa Hutchinson’s decision to resume executions of prisoners on death row flies in the face of mounting opposition to capital punishment across the United States.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson’s decision to resume executions of prisoners on death row flies in the face of mounting opposition to capital punishment across the United States, advocacy group Equal Justice USA Executive Director Shari Silberstein told Sputnik.

"Setting eight execution dates after a long hiatus is out of step with a strong trend across the United States to move away from the death penalty," Silberstein said.

On Wednesday, Hutchinson announced execution dates for eight convicted felons which will revive the practice of the death penalty process in Arkansas after it was dormant for ten years.

Oklahoma has approved the use of nitrogen gas asphyxiation for the administration of the death penalty in case the US Supreme Court finds lethal injections - plagued by recent botched executions - to be unconstitutional. - Sputnik International
Arkansas Governor Sets Dates for Inmates Executions for 1st Time in 10 Years
Two executions are scheduled to take place once a month starting on October 21. The last two of the eight inmates will be executed on January 14, 2016.

Silberstein said seven US states have already banned the death penalty, while four others have officially stopped any sort of death row execution.

"Americans have seen the writing on the wall: the death penalty is a failed policy that risks executing innocent people, wastes millions of taxpayer dollars and distracts from public safety," she said.

On September 1, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge sent a letter to Hutchinson urging him to set execution dates for the eight prisoners as their legal appeals had been exhausted and the state had enough drugs to carry out the executions by lethal injection.

Capital punishment is currently the law in 31 US states, and abolished in 19 states.

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