ROME -- Victims of miscarriage of justice are being urged to take part in anonymous photographic portraits to spark international public opinion on the death penalty in the United States, headed by the 'Dead man walking - I Do Not Want To Die' © 2016' project coordinator and photographer Alessandro Lisci.

 Lisci claims that an astonishing amount of American civilians, mostly African-American, suffer from such miscarriage of justice: “without having the means to defend themselves, they are then often only proved innocent after they have been punished by death.”

 The photographer would like anyone to come forward who would like to take part in the campaign, possibly putting their own face to the project and telling their stories. To contact, please use Italian number +39 331 6379346 or alessandrolisci@yahoo.it

 Due to the ethical controversies surrounding the death penalty, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer blocked the use of its drugs for lethal injections in May 2016, joining 20 other European and American companies that have already adopted restrictions. The step is significant, but does by no means mark the end of the death penalty in the United States. The maximum punishment is provided for in 33 States, the Armed Forces and the US Government: some of them use the electric chair or the gas chamber. (Source: Giuseppe Sarcina New York correspondent, BBC 16 May 2016.)

  But several states have prudently updated, or are about to do so, their legislation allowing alternative methods to lethal injection, using the electric chair if the injection is unavailable. Providing another alternative method, Governor Mary Fallin on April 17, 2015, signed the law introducing of the use of the gas chamber (already used as an alternative method in Arizona, California, Missouri, Wyoming).

 Furthermore, in March 2015, the Governor of Utah Gary Herbert reintroduced shooting as a potential, compensating for the lack of drugs. Of the 33 states with a law that authorizes the use of lethal injection, eight of them may resort to the electric chair if it is not available. Five other states, alternatively, may resort to the gas chamber. And that is not all: Delaware, New Hampshire and Washington state may resort to hanging. Oklahoma recognizes all appropriate methods to carry out the death penalty. For more information, see: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods-execution