Many Americans, including prominent politicians, oppose expansion of the death penalty or favor its abolition altogether because of the risk that an innocent person might be executed. Two men who were sentenced to death, and were nearly wrongly executed, testified at the hearing. Supporters of capital punishment believe that some crimes are so heinous as to merit this ultimate sentence. They would argue that current legislation provides for lengthy litigation that allows many murderers to avoid their execution for years, and that the system contains adequate safeguards to protect innocent persons from wrongful execution. Other witnesses at this hearing included prosecutors and defense attorneys, and representatives of advocacy and lobbying groups on both sides of this issue.