U.S. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., slammed President Donald Trump for calling for the reinstatement of the loss of life penalty in Washington, D.C.
“Like Donald Trump himself, the loss of life penalty is flawed and deeply racist. It’s a basically unjust punishment that has no place in any society,” stated Pressley in an announcement after Trump stated on Tuesday that the loss of life penalty is a “very robust preventative” in opposition to crime.
Pressley, who has sponsored federal laws to ban the loss of life penalty, famous that capital punishment has been “disproportionately weaponized in opposition to Black and brown communities,” including “[it] did not make America any safer—which is why we’ve labored persistently to abolish it and efficiently partnered with President [Joe] Biden to re-sentence most of federal loss of life row.”
An execution of a defendant has not occurred in Washington, D.C., since 1957. The D.C. Council moved to abolish the loss of life penalty in 1981.
Pressley recalled the ’80s, when Trump, then only a New York actual property mogul and tabloid determine, took out an almost six-figure newspaper advert calling for the Central Park 5, then teenage Black and Latino boys, to be executed. In 2002, the 5 males have been exonerated and at the moment are referred to as the Exonerated 5.
“In 1989, Donald Trump paid for a number of advertisements calling for the execution of 5 harmless youngsters of shade who have been coerced and overwhelmed to admit to a homicide they didn’t commit,” stated Pressley. “To this present day, he has but to alter his views or apologize to those males—who’ve since been exonerated—and is now looking for to develop capital punishment in Washington, D.C. and throughout the nation.”
The Massachusetts congresswoman excoriated President Trump’s first seven months since returning to the White Home, describing his second time period as a bunch of “damaged guarantees.”
“Reasonably than militarize our cities, weaponize the federal authorities to terrorize communities, and proceed distracting from his many damaged guarantees, Donald Trump ought to as a substitute prioritize what really retains individuals protected: community-based, trauma-informed options like reasonably priced housing, psychological well being care, and gun violence prevention applications—the identical initiatives he has attacked and defunded since taking workplace,” stated Pressley. “That’s how we break cycles of violence and construct protected, wholesome, and thriving communities.”
Since 2019, throughout Trump’s first time period in workplace, Congresswoman Pressley has launched the Federal Dying Penalty Prohibition Act alongside Senator Dick Durbin, D-Sick. If handed into regulation, the invoice would prohibit the usage of the loss of life penalty on the federal degree and require re-sentencing of these at the moment on loss of life row.
Pressley has additionally been a vocal legal justice advocate in Congress since her election in 2018. Throughout former President Joe Biden’s presidency, Pressley urged him to make use of his clemency powers to handle racial disparities within the legal justice system.
After Biden commuted the sentences of 37 principally Black and brown people on loss of life row and re-sentenced them to life in jail throughout his remaining days in workplace, Pressley applauded him.
“There isn’t a motion extra highly effective or righteous than sparing somebody’s life,” stated Pressley. “The President’s resolution to commute the loss of life sentences of 37 people on federal loss of life row is a historic and groundbreaking act of compassion that may save lives, deal with the deep racial disparities in our legal authorized system, and ship a robust message about redemption, decency, and humanity.”
