Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Bernie Sanders warns of 'nightmare scenario' if Trump refuses election results Harris joins women's voter mobilization event also featuring Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda MORE (I-Vt.) on Thursday said the United States should abolish the death penalty, doubling down on his long-standing opposition to capital punishment.

"I believe it is time for the United States of America to join every other Western, industrialized country on Earth in saying no to the death penalty," Sanders, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said from the Senate floor. "We are all shocked and disgusted by the horrific murders that we see in this country, seemingly every week. And that is precisely why we should abolish the death penalty."

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He made a similar push during a separate interview with “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts," adding that "I think many of us understand that a lot of innocent people, often people of color, have been executed who in fact were not guilty of the charges made against them."

Sanders's comments come after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that while the death penalty should be "limited and rare," she didn't support abolishing it.

The Vermont senator has previously spoken out against the practice. He said during a May interview that on the Thom Hartmann radio show, "I'm against capital punishment in general."