hey guys. signing petitions and spreading information is helpful to the cause; however these issues within the system that need to be changed so things like what is happening to dustin higgs don’t happen again. so here’s a thread on what you can do to help.

the biggest thing we, as regular citizens, can do is advocate to our elected officials about the abolishment of the death penalty and legislation involved in abolishing the death penalty. now this can happen on the state or federal level.

i have experience advocating to legislators on the state and federal level and am here to give you advice on how you can be an advocate as well.

the state level-
this will be your states legislators. every state has a different congress with in the state. you are going to be wanting to advocate to the congress people who represent the areas you live in.

to find your state legislators, you can go to http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator

you’re also going to want to find bills and legislation that the legislators will be able to vote on and support. currently the states with bills about abolishing the death penalty are:
-california
-kentucky
-missouri
-south carolina
-texas
-virginia
-washington

you can find more information on the specific details of the legislation for your state here: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/recent-legislative-activity

for your state legislators, you can write them a letter, email, or call their office. there are pros and con to each, but i suggest writing an email or letter. now, the people in congress are typically older, so they may appreciate the letter more than email.

here’s what you talk about in your letter:
-introduce yourself, what school you go to, how old you are. if you are a young person writing to your legislators, it’ll impress them and show that you care.
-talk about the bill you want them to support. when talking to...

your legislators you always want to have an ask, something you want them to do.
-mostly importantly: tell them WHY you want them to support it. make sure you do your research and make sure you sound as educated as possible.
-thank them for taking the time to read your message

-provide contact information for your self, your full name and your email or phone number

that is how you talk to your state level legislators about issues you care about. you always want to have a bill they can support/not support! and remember they are people too!

federal level-
next week, we will have a democratic majority in both the house and senate. this will be the best time to advocate.

like with state legislators you will want to be asking them to support legislation. the bill HR97 was introduced into the house of representatives last week. you will be asking your representatives to support this.

you want to advocate to the congress people who represent your area. each state has a varying number of representatives. to find your representatives go to: http://house.gov/representatives 

you will want to email them! there will be an option to email them on their official website! do this! you will want to follow the same steps talked about in the state level for the email.

make sure you know the bill and you ask them to support it! ask them to support bill HR97! right now this legislation is in the house of representatives, it will take awhile till it reaches the senate. but when it does, you want to do the same thing for your senators.

we don’t want more people dying unjustly because of the death penalty. a change has to happen with in the system so we can stop these deaths. please be safe and advocate!