WHEREAS the death penalty has been shown to be applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner; and

WHEREAS the death penalty has been shown to be fraught with prosecutorial misconduct; and

WHEREAS the death penalty has been shown to cause innocent people to be executed; and

WHEREAS efforts to speed up the appeals process could mean that innocent people will be executed; and

WHEREAS the death penalty is significantly more expensive than life in prison; and

WHEREAS surveys have shown that the majority of the population prefers life in prison with restitution to the families of victims as an alternative to the death penalty; and

WHEREAS the State of Texas is becoming known as the "Death Penalty Capital of the Western World";

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that _______________________________________ supports efforts to (1) provide competent and adequately paid legal assistance to low income people on death row; (2) ensure that the rights of death row prisoners are not abridged by speeding up the appeals process; (3) prevent application of the death penalty to youth and to prisoners who are mentally ill or mentally retarded; (4) substitute life in prison with restitution to the families of victims as an alternative to the death penalty.

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