Death Penalty

Criminal Justice: Death Penalty Information

Additional Resources To learn more, visit the following websites: ACLU Amnesty International Death Penalty Information Center Equal Justice USA Justice Denied National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation

Civil Liberties

Position of the Reform Movement on the Death Penalty

Since 1959, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) have formally opposed the death penalty.

Civil Liberties

Jewish Values and the Death Penalty

Biblical law mandates the death penalty for 36 offenses. These include a broad range of crimes from murder to kidnapping, adultery to incest, certain forms of rape, idolatrous worship and public incitement to apostasy, from disrespecting parents to desecrating the Sabbath.

Death Penalty

Legislative Update on Criminal Justice

Sentencing Reform As part of a growing tough-on-crime attitude in the 1980s, legislators at the state and federal levels passed a myriad of new laws imposing harsh mandatory minimum sentences for a variety of crimes, most notably for nonviolent drug offenses.

Civil Rights & Voting Rights

Jewish Leader urges Death Penalty Repeal in Illinois

January 18, 2011

Saperstein: "It is clear that the application of the death penalty has, for far too long, been unfair; the racial and class disparities among those sentenced to death as compared to those who receive life imprisonment are stark."

Death Penalty

Death Penalty

Criminal Justice: Death Penalty Information

Position of the Reform Movement on the Death Penalty

Jewish Values and the Death Penalty

Legislative Update on Criminal Justice

Jewish Leader urges Death Penalty Repeal in Illinois

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