WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson’s decision to resume executions of prisoners on death row flies in the face of mounting opposition to capital punishment across the United States, advocacy group Equal Justice USA Executive Director Shari Silberstein told Sputnik.
"Setting eight execution dates after a long hiatus is out of step with a strong trend across the United States to move away from the death penalty," Silberstein said.
On Wednesday, Hutchinson announced execution dates for eight convicted felons which will revive the practice of the death penalty process in Arkansas after it was dormant for ten years.
Silberstein said seven US states have already banned the death penalty, while four others have officially stopped any sort of death row execution.
"Americans have seen the writing on the wall: the death penalty is a failed policy that risks executing innocent people, wastes millions of taxpayer dollars and distracts from public safety," she said.
On September 1, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge sent a letter to Hutchinson urging him to set execution dates for the eight prisoners as their legal appeals had been exhausted and the state had enough drugs to carry out the executions by lethal injection.
Capital punishment is currently the law in 31 US states, and abolished in 19 states.
