FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2024
PHOENIX –Representative Patty Contreras has reintroduced her measure to abolish Arizona's death penalty, citing it as an unfairly administered and ineffective deterrent to crime with increasing cases of Death Row inmates being exonerated through new investigative technologies. Contreras, who also sponsored a repeal in the past two sessions, filed HCR 2001 on Tuesday. If passed by the House and Senate, the measure would require approval by Arizona voters on the 2026 ballot.
"People who commit heinous crimes should be locked away, and victims of crime and their families deserve justice. But the death penalty is not the answer," Contreras said. "That's why it has been abolished in more than 70 percent of the world's countries. It's disheartening to see that Arizona is re-starting executions when there is no evidence that the death penalty deters crime, and it is disproportionately applied to defendants who are people of color, people who are economically disadvantaged and especially those with intellectual disabilities."
Contreras added, "Increasingly, death row inmates have had their cases overturned – nearly 200 since 1973 – because of improved investigative technology like DNA analysis. Still, other states have executed people despite serious doubts about their guilt. Arizona should not go back down that road."
Contreras said she is disappointed that a former federal magistrate's study on Arizona's death penalty was not allowed to be completed. His preliminary draft concluded there is no humane way to kill a person via lethal injection. Although the report was never finished, and the Arizona Department of Corrections disputed several aspects, Contreras said it still made strong and clear arguments that Arizona should leave the death penalty in the past.
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