Advocates for Ending the Use of the Death Penalty Rally at Capitol

On Thursday, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Equal Justice USA, and several other advocacy organizations sponsored a rally at the capitol. Participants urged an end to the use of the death penalty as well as voiced support for State Attorney Aramis Ayala's decision within Florida law to not seek the death penalty in any case under her jurisdiction. Ayala's office handles cases from Orange and Osceola Counties.

Ingrid Delgado, associate for social concerns/respect life, spoke at the rally and expressed the FCCB's opposition to the death penalty. State-sanctioned killing offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life. However, we cannot overcome what Saint Pope John Paul II called a "culture of death" and build a "culture of life" by killing those who have been convicted of killing others.

The alternative sentence of life without the possibility of parole protects society without taking additional lives. It is time to abandon the death penalty-not just because of what it does to those who are executed, but because of how it diminishes all of us.