A Letter to My Legislator

I wrote a letter to my two Tennessee legislators today, Senator Rusty Crowe and Representative Matthew Hill.

Here it is:

March 28, 2011

Representative/Senator

Dear ,

As your constituent, I want to thank you for your service and encourage you to vote in favor of HB2064/SB1692 to exclude individuals with severe and persistent mental illness from receiving the death penalty in Tennessee.

Frankly, the death penalty should be abolished altogether. But this is a start. The United States can count itself in the company of Yemen, Iran, China, and North Korea. These are the top four executing countries in 2010. The United States ranked fifth.**

This is shameful.

I would be happy to talk with you at any time why the death penalty is bad for Tennessee and the United States on moral, legal, practical, and financial grounds.

HB2064/SB1692 is a start.

Thank you for your consideration, and I hope you will let me know if you support this bill.

Sincerely,

Rev. John Shuck

**Here are the top five countries with numbers of executions in order: China (over 1,000 executions), Iran (252+), North Korea (60+), Yemen (53+), and the US (46). (Amnesty International, March 28, 2011)

Our congregation had a visit from Rev. Stacy Rector a couple of months back. She encouraged us to write letters on behalf of this legislation. Our Peacemaking Committee took on the task and set up a bulletin board and a mailbox.


It supplied pen, paper, stamps, a sample letter and the addresses of our legislators and encouraged us to write individual letters. So I did.


It is a good idea.