1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

Abolish the death penalty. Not reform it, not restrict it — end it. The planned December 3rd livestreamed execution of Nidal Hasan makes the case better than anything: this system has devolved into spectacle. The United Nations warned it would "breach the absolute prohibition of torture." This is the land of the free, not the Hunger Games. Public executions were abandoned in this country in 1936 for a reason. The death penalty is irreversible, applied unequally, and does nothing to make communities safer. Former national security officials warn this execution will create a martyr and hand propaganda to terrorist recruiters. A broken, cruel system doesn't get fixed by putting it on livestream — it gets fixed by ending it. Use your authority to push for full abolition.