Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (UTADP) is a statewide coalition of both secular and religious organizations and concerned individuals dedicated to stopping executions in our state. We welcome you to join us in this goal. Recognizing that some organizations and individuals who have serious misgivings about the death penalty in Utah may not be ready to call for an end to capital punishment just yet, we also welcome those individuals and groups, secular and religious, who seek a moratorium on the death penalty and the establishment of a commission to study its many disturbing facets.

Utah is the only state to allow firing squad executions

Despite a close vote in the House, the Utah legislature passed HB 11, the “firing squad” bill, by a nearly 2/3 majority. There was a surge of letters, emails, and signatures on petitions (including a petition with over 6,000 signatures that UTADP delivered to the Governors office on March 19,) asking Governor Herbert to veto the bill. Instead, on March 23, he signed it into law bring Utah, once again, into the international spotlight. This law will allow Utah to revert back to using the firing squad as a method of carrying out state-sponsored murder, should lethal injection drugs prove unavailable when we next carry out an execution in the state. While  it could be at least two years before the next possible execution, Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty will continue to educate and advocate on behalf of an abolition to capitol punishment. UTADP letter to Governor Herbert asking him to Veto HB 11 (3/16/15)

We hope you will join us in that effort.