Following the Department of Justice's announcement that they will be executing inmates for the first time in 20 years, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) has introduced legislation that would abolish the death penalty for good.

Attorney General William Barr announced the change amid concerns that capital punishment disproportionately impacts the Black community, with information from the Death Penalty Information Center showing 89% of the executions involved Black defendants.

“Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President,” Barr said in a statement Thursday. “Under Administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals, including these five murderers, each of whom was convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding."


The bill, set to be introduced by the Massachusetts congresswoman, is shorter than most legislation being tweeted, at just over 70 words.

“The death penalty has no place in a just society,” Pressley tweeted, retweeting an image of the legislation.

Pressley denounced the Department of Justice's change earlier Thursday and recalled the Central Park Five as an example of why it should be abolished. President Trump previously said the men should have received the death penalty and maintained this opinion even after their exoneration.

"The same #racist rhetoric coming from the occupant of the @WhiteHouse, who called for the execution of the #Exonerated5, is what led to this racist, vile policy. It was wrong then and it’s wrong now," she tweeted. "The cruelty is the point — this is by design."

Multiple states and 70% of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty, and only three executions have taken place since 1988, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.