Two executions by electric chair in South Carolina have been set over seven days, starting on June 18, 2021. The scheduling of these executions follows the enactment of a law on May 14, 2021 that changes South Carolina’s death penalty, allowing for execution by electric chair or firing squad. These executions, if carried out, will end a 10-year hiatus in executions in South Carolina, and set the state against the US and global trends away from the death penalty. We demand for the Governor to call off the scheduled executions.
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The Honourable Henry McMaster
Governor of South Carolina
State House
1100 Gervais Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
Email: webform
(For international action-takers using the webform,
you can use AI USA’s address: Amnesty International USA
311 West. 43rd St. 7th Floor, New York, NY 10036 USA)
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Governor Henry McMaster,
I am writing to ask for your urgent intervention to halt the two scheduled executions in South Carolina, the first in a decade.
The USA death penalty is marked with arbitrariness, racial bias, and flawed legal representation – which are some of the common factors that have contributed to unreliable judicial decisions on life or death, including for people with severe mental and intellectual disabilities.
Following the recent achievement in Virginia, 23 states have now abolished the death penalty, with South Carolina being one of an additional 13 without any executions in 10 or more years. The resumption of executions in South Carolina would set the state against this progress.
Rather than focusing on the pursuit of a cruel punishment, I encourage you to do everything in your power to call off these executions, end the cycle of violence and implement much needed reforms that would address the root causes of crime.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
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