HB 99 + HB 888 | Repealing the death penalty in PA

Session: 2025-2026

ACLU-PA Position: Support

HB 99 (PN 2448) and HB 888 (PN 960) would repeal the death penalty as a sentencing option for a conviction for first-degree murder, leaving life without parole as the remaining sentence for such convictions.

The death penalty is fundamentally and irreparably flawed. It is prone to errors, leading to innocent people being sentenced to death. And it is arbitrary and unfair; who gets life and who gets death is based not on the facts of the crime but on the identity of the person who’s been accused, the identity of the person who’s been harmed, the quality of the accused person’s lawyer, and where the crime occurred.