Criminal Law

World Day Against the Death Penalty

Posted on October 09, 2009
"Shouting from the Rooftops" on World Day Against the Death Penalty October 8, 2009October 10th marks the sixth anniversary of World Day Against the Death Penalty, an event begun by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty to urge countries around the world that still implement capital punishment to abolish it...

Shouting from the Rooftops!

Posted on September 23, 2009

Cesar E. Chavez... The Path to Nonviolence

Posted on March 31, 2009
On what would have been his 82nd Birthday, NCADP presents this guest commentary about Cesar E. Chavez, by Magdaleno Leno Rose-Avila, NCADP's Death Penalty Abolitionist of the Year, 1995. Cesar E. Chavez A Clear Voice Against Violence As a community and farm worker organizer early in his career, Cesar E...

Montana Takes Another Step

Posted on March 27, 2009
On Wednesday the Montana House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the death penalty repeal bill in that state. Click here for coverage from the Helena Independent Record. The committee is expected to vote next week.The Montana Standard is running the death penalty as its Question of the Week...

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In New Mexico, The People Speak!

Posted on March 18, 2009
For Immediate Release Contact: Caitlin Kelleher March 17, 2009 505.476.2299 Governor Bill Richardson Continues to Hear from New Mexicans Today on HB 285 SANTA FE ? Governor Bill Richardson continues to hear from New Mexicans about a bill to repeal the death penalty and today released details on the more than 9,400 calls, emails and walk-ins he?s received on the issue...

Albuquerque Journal On-Line Poll Says REPEAL!

Posted on March 18, 2009
The Albuquerque Journal started this poll sometime before midnight on the evening of March 16, 2009. On-line polls are notoriously unscientific - a measure of people who happen upon them and care to express their opinion. To its credit, the Journal put in a place a protection that allows only one vote per computer...

Abolition - It's Just Common Sense

Posted on March 18, 2009
Last Friday, March 13, 2009, as I sat in the gallery of the New Mexico Senate listening to that body debate whether to pass a bill to repeal New Mexico?s death penalty statute, I felt very much like I had been there before. In fact, 15 months ago, December 13, 2007 I was in the gallery of the New Jersey Assembly listening to pretty much the same debate...

Governor Richardson's Press Release

Posted on March 18, 2009
For Immediate Release Contact: Gilbert GallegosMarch 18, 2009 505.476.2217Governor Bill Richardson Signs Repeal of the Death PenaltySANTA FE ? Governor Bill Richardson today signed House Bill 285, Repeal of the DeathPenalty. The Governor?s remarks follow:Today marks the end of a long, personal journey for me and the issue of the death penalty...

New Mexico Senate Approves Abolition Bill

Posted on March 13, 2009
Earlier today, Friday, March 13, 2009, The New Mexico Senate voted 24-18 to repeal the death penalty in New Mexico and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. House Bill 285 now goes to Gov. Bill Richardson for his signature...

March 1st: International Death Penalty Abolition Day

Posted on February 28, 2009

MD Governor O'Malley Leads March for Abolition

Posted on February 25, 2009
When is the last time a sitting governor led a march to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty? It's never happened before today. Bravo, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley!From the Baltimore Sun: Gov. Martin O'Malley led a march down a major street in Maryland's capital city to urge lawmakers to repeal the death penalty in what could be a close vote...

Sara Hickman Way

Posted on February 23, 2009
The street outside the First United Methodist Church in Austin, just a block up from the TX capitol bldg and location of the TCADP annual conference, has been re-named for the weekend in honor of death penalty abolitionist and musician Sara Hickman, who is being honored today by the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty...

MD Governor O'Malley Speaks to His Bill

Posted on February 21, 2009
At a hearing before Maryland's Senate Judicial Practices Committee on February 18, 2009, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley testified in support of the bill he sponsored to repeal that state's death penalty. It was a standing room only crowd, overflowing into the corridors...

Montana Senate Hearing Report

Posted on February 15, 2009
Marietta Jeager-Lane Reports:As you may already know, MT's Senate Judiciary Committee passed our abolition bill, SB236, on to the Senate Floor, 7-5. The bill will be debated Monday afternoon, 2/16 starting at 1pm Mountain Time. Click here to listen live! In the above photo are the main speakers at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, left to right: Ron McAndrew, ex-FL warden, who oversaw 3 electric chair executions -- one of which men he felt was innocent and one whose execution was botched, literally cooking the poor guy to death for 1/2 hour...

New Mexico Repeal Day A Huge Success!

Posted on February 11, 2009
The NM Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty's Lobby Day was Monday (Feb. 9) at the Roundhouse (NM's Capitol Building). More than 225 people from around the state came to Santa Fe for a press conference at noon, followed by visits with their Legislators...

New Mexico One Step Closer to REPEAL!

Posted on February 07, 2009
I took the following images with my phone on Friday, February 6 at the New Mexico State Capitol, which incidentally is a very cool building with a fabulous display of all kinds of art - everywhere! This was a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, which ultimately passed the bill and sent it to the floor with an 8 to 5 vote...

On the new administration

Posted on November 11, 2008
I?m sure I?m not the only one wondering what to expect from the next administration following what is expected from the Democratic electoral victory. Speaking strictly for me, and letting others speak to what type of judges President-elect Obama will appoint, here is what I think we?ll see...

More Montana Headlines

Posted on October 07, 2008
Once again, top of the front page....Montana Standard - Death Penalty Opponents Speak from Experiences

MT Journey Touching Hearts and Minds

Posted on October 07, 2008
The Montana Journey continues to touch hearts and minds throughout the state. On Sunday evening I moderated an event at the University of Montana - Western featuring Murder Victim Family Members Eve Malo and Bill Pelke, and Leslie Lytle, author of the new book, "Execution's Doorstep...

Montana Journey - Top of the Fold!

Posted on October 03, 2008
The Montana Abolition Coalition is hosting the Montana Journey of Hope ...From Violence to Healing, starting yesterday with an event at Carroll College in Helena. Today we got up and drove to Bozeman for encounters with students at Montana State University, and we were welcomed by a top of the front page (above the vp debate coverage!) article in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle featuring Journey co-founder Marietta Jaeger Lane and David Kaczynski, brother of Ted Kaczynski, AKA the Unabomber, who was apprehended in Montana...

Rachel King: Thank You, and rest in peace....

Posted on August 27, 2008
Rachel King: 1963 - 2008 It is with sadness that we report the passing of our friend and colleague, Rachel King, on August 25, 2008 after a long and valiant struggle with cancer. Rachel was first a daughter, friend, wife and step-mother, but her personal and professional lives merged in her advocacy and efforts to make our world a better place...

NCADP's 1st Annual Death Penalty Abolitionist Leadership Institute

Posted on August 10, 2008

Maryland 9 - Texas 0: In Which Jane Gets A Talking To...

Posted on August 10, 2008
Sent originally from my Wireless BlackBerry while the game continued....Subject: In Which Jane Gets a Talking toIt's MD Coalition Against State Executions night at Camden Yards and the Orioles are still shutting out the TEXAS Rangers, now 9-0 in the bottom of the seventh...

OTSE Members Help Out NCADP at NAACP

Posted on July 14, 2008
The death penalty is on the agenda this week at the 99th Annual Conference of the NAACP in Cincinnati. NAACP delegates will consider a resolution calling for a Federal study commission, and a CLE course on strategies to prevent executions was scheduled to be taught by Bryan Stevenson...

100th Execution in Virginia

Posted on June 26, 2008
Here are a couple of video snippets of activities outside the prison in Virgina as that state conducted its 100th execution in the current death penalty era. Here is one news item...

100th Execution in Virginia - Tolling the bell 100 times...

Posted on June 26, 2008

Pilgrimage for Life from NC to DC

Posted on June 26, 2008
Making Strides toward Abolition and Reconciliation....Here's a short clip from last Sunday, about 15 miles north of Jarratt, VA, site of Virginia's death house.... These folks are walking from North Carolina to the U.S. Supreme Court in DC, educating and activating on the issue of the death penalty...

Rev. Pickett on the Hill

Posted on June 20, 2008
"At the Death House Door" was screened for Congressional staff and interns on Thursday, June 19, 2008 in a special presentation hosted by Congressman Bobby Scott and co-sponsored by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Amnesty International and the United Methodist Church Genral Board of Church and Society...

Meeting with the Special Rapporteur

Posted on June 20, 2008
This morning (June 19, 2008) Amnesty International hosted a meeting with Professor Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions. Providing perspective for him were Sue Vaughn of Amnesty International USA, Dick Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center, Deborah Fleischaker of the ABA's Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project, Renny Cushing of Murder Victim Families for Human Rights and Diann Rust-Tierney of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty...

Sleeping with the Judge

Posted on June 17, 2008
Texas is at it again. The eight month moratorium on executions has come and gone and Texas is moving forward with executions even in the face of utter and complete injustice. Do you remember the case of Calvin Burdine or George McFarland. Their lawyers fell asleep during their capital trial and they still got sentenced to death...

March from NC to DC starts Sunday...

Posted on June 12, 2008
Click here to learn more about, support, and/or participate in the Pilgrimage and Walk of Remembrance 2008."The Pilgrimage and Walk of Remembrance 2008 is a 300-mile walk from Raleigh NC to Washington, DC. We embark on a spiritual pilgrimage and walk of remembrance ? remembering murder victims and their families, people on death row and their families, persons executed and their families and calling for abolition of the death penalty...

15th Annual Fast and Vigil Approaching

Posted on June 11, 2008
Every year, for the past fifteen years, from June 29 ? July 2nd, something amazing happens in Washington, DC. Abolitionists from around the country and world come together for a four day Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty.They set-up shop on the sidewalk of the U...

Mike Kennedy, RIP

Posted on May 21, 2008
More is here. People who didn?t know Mike but saw him could easily have mistaken him for a homeless drunk, but his hard to understand speech and his imbalance was due to his illness. That he was usually bedraggled was as much a matter of choice as it had to do with all the hassle involved for someone with his degenerative cerebral condition (I forget exactly what it was)...

Goodbye -- but not farewell

Posted on May 07, 2008
When I was in college in Austin, we used to crash the fundraisers of Democratic candidates for statewide office. Free food, free booze, this was in the early 1980s, Democrats were still strong in Texas back then. (And they will be again soon!)Once in 1982 I crashed the fundraiser of Jim Mattox, Democratic nominee for attorney general...

Protesting #1,100 at SCOTUS

Posted on May 06, 2008
Above: Mike Stark of the Campaign to End the Death PenaltyAnother doggie for Abolition!Art Laffin shares the story of the murder of his brother and his opposition to executions.

The Road to Abolition - New Book by NJ Senator Raymond Lesniak

Posted on May 02, 2008
"During my 30 years in the state Legislature, I never prepared statements to be delivered in committee, on the floor or at public appearances, always relying on my glibness to either captivate an audience or stumble through a presentation of my views...

Pope Thanks Corzine for Abolishing the Death Penalty in Jersey....

Posted on April 21, 2008
Well, it was not the public reiteration of the Catholic Church's condemnation of the death penalty that some of us would have liked to have seen, but the Pope did not leave the US without saying something about it. Click here to read the news account...

Bearer of bad news

Posted on April 18, 2008
The pending execution list to the left is back. My apologies.

Doubts about death

Posted on April 17, 2008
Dallas County (Texas) District Attorney Craig Watkins shared some interesting thoughts on the death penalty with the Dallas Morning News yesterday:"I sit here and I see the worst, the worst of what humans can do. And when you sit here and see that, the only logical conclusion that you can come to is we have to seek the ultimate punishment...

Survivors' stories available online

Posted on April 15, 2008
A few weeks ago a team of abolitionists, death row exonerees, and murder victims' families toured Pennsylvania, holding public talks at churches, colleges, high schools, and community centers. 10 days, 13 towns, 21 events, 1690 miles, and a countless number of cups of coffee...

200,000 and counting!

Posted on April 09, 2008
Early this afternoon, Abolish the Death Penalty received its 200,000th visitor: Total 200,001 Average Per Day 276 Average Visit Length 0:35 Last Hour 17 Today 155 This Week 1,933 Our readership is down a bit these days, probably because in recent times other activities have prevented me from blogging as often as I would like...

Innocent people on death row? It's no myth

Posted on April 08, 2008
For years, proponents of the death penalty have claimed that the list of innocent people released from death row is greatly exaggerated. The official list, maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center, is 128 people released from death row after evidence of their innocence emerged...

A walk to abolish the death penalty

Posted on April 07, 2008
This morning we in NCADP's office were graced with the presence of "Capital X," who is walking from New Jersey to Texas in support of death penalty abolition. (Above you can see a map of Capital X's journey. The link button to contribute doesn't work from this blog -- but to contribute or buy a t-shirt, just go here...

Forty years ago today...

Posted on April 04, 2008
...our nation witnessed the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In a way, it was the death of liberalism. Conservatives have had their way with us -- almost unremittingly -- ever since.Today, of course, change is in the air. The word "conservative" has become more of a perjorative than the word liberal...

Rev. Walter Everett: Still going

Posted on April 03, 2008
When we started planning the Voices of Hope Agents of Change Tour ("the VHAC tour"), Rev. Walter Everett of Murder Victims Families for Human Rights told us that he wanted to do four or five events per day. The twenty- and thirty-somethings on the tour planning committee said, "Slow down...

Death, Taxes, and Dry Cleaning?

Posted on March 31, 2008
New reports were released last week focusing on the financial and geographic aspects of the death penalty system in California. Link to them here.In a blog about it, I note this:The Hidden Death Tax also reveals some startling figures that you wouldn't expect to find on an expense sheet for prosecuting a death penalty case...

Voices of Hope tour PA, press the flesh, build the movement

Posted on March 29, 2008
I'm the Central Pennsylvania Abolitionist, and I approve this message.Ok, ok, maybe I'm a little delirious after 15 death penalty events in a six-day period, covering 1087 miles and a whole lot of coffee. Maybe I'm still trying to take it all in after a week that has included hanging with a guy who spent nearly 17 years on PA's death row only to be cleared at retrial, two fathers who lost children to homicide, a Penn State professor who is on the cutting edge of messaging research in the anti-death penalty movement, a progressive Christian community in Philadelphia, and one of the stars of M*A*S*H...

Healing and restoration in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Posted on March 18, 2008
UNC-Chapel Hill will celebrate the life of Eve Carson at 4 p.m. today in the Dean E. Smith Center. Carson, UNC-CH's student body president, was shot to death March 5. Two suspects have been charged in her slaying.While we celebrate the life of Eve Carson and mourn her passing, we are yet again reminded of the obligation to start getting smart on crime...

Eyebrows raised

Posted on March 17, 2008
This from CNN:U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Friday he is "kind of hoping" the prisoners facing military trials in connection with the September 11 attacks do not receive the death penalty, which would fulfill their desire to be martyrs.During questions from students at the London, England, School of Economics, Mukasey indicated his support for the death penalty in the United States, but then waded into a discussion of his views on potential sentences for al Qaeda defendants at Guantanamo Bay...

Oh, the irony....

Posted on March 09, 2008
George W. Bush became the first president to sing since its 1885 inception during the annual Gridiron Dinner the other night, but the irony is that the lyrics he made up were sung to the the tune of the "Green Green Grass of Home," a song sung in the voice of a man awaiting his own execution...

Walking abolition to Texas

Posted on March 08, 2008
.Andre Latallade, a/k/a Capital-"X", will walk from Trenton, New Jersey to Austin, Texas, approximately 1,700, to bring the torch of abolition from the Garden State to the Lone Star State. Andre Latallade, also known as Capital-"X" will walk from Trenton New Jersey, approximately 1,700 miles to the Governors mansion in Texas in an attempt to bring awareness to the death penalty...

Maryland taxpayers spend $186 million on death penalty statutes

Posted on March 06, 2008
Today a study analyzing the cost of the death penalty was released in Maryland. The study is described as one of the most comprehensive ever conducted. There are, of course, a number of reasons why the death penalty represents flawed public policy. The fact that it is such an enormous drain on taxpayer resources always has been near the top of my list...

'The Two Lives of Napoleon Beazley

Posted on March 05, 2008
(Hat tip, For Victims, Against the Death Penalty)There's a must-see play showing in New York City right now. The Two Lives of Napoleon Beazley examines one of the last juvenile offenders executed in the U.S. before such executions were ruled unconstitutional by the U...

Guest blogging on Monte Allen Delk

Posted on February 28, 2008
Today we guest-blogged over at Executed Today, which my friend Jason runs.Here's our entry:Six years ago today the state of Texas executed an FBI agent, a state district judge, the president of Kenya and a war hero who commanded a nuclear-powered submarine during the Civil War...

'This is Tammany Hall, only 100 years later'

Posted on February 27, 2008
Newsweek magazine has taken a look at the strange goings-on inside the Harris County, Texas district attorney's office. This article is sooooo worth posting in its entirety:Newsweek Web Exclusive Race, Justice, and TexasResignation doesn't end trouble for Houston's top prosecutorBy Gretel C...

Show trials at Guantanamo Bay?

Posted on February 20, 2008
This popped up over at Daily Kos. We reprint in its entirety:This was very much how it was done in the bad old days of the Soviet Union:Secret evidence. Denial of habeas corpus. Evidence obtained by waterboarding. Indefinite detention. The litany of complaints about the legal treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay is long, disturbing and by now familiar...

Guest-blogging

Posted on February 18, 2008
Yesterday we guest-blogged over at www.executedtoday.comCheck out our entry here.

Will another death row exoneration be happening in Mississippi

Posted on February 17, 2008
From Radley Balko over at Hit & Run, Reason magazine's blog, a post boldly entitled Eddie Lee Howard: Mississippi's Next Exoneration?Now that Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks have been freed, the Innocence Project is calling for a criminal investigation into Dr...

A death row exoneration

Posted on February 15, 2008
from the Innocence Project Two Mississippi men are cleared after 15 years At hearings this morning in a packed Mississippi courthouse, two Innocence Project clients convicted of separate child murders in the same small town were cleared based on new evidence proving their innocence...

Breaking news, Part II

Posted on February 15, 2008
So it looks like our friend Steve Hall is having a busy day down in Texas. Now we get news that Chuck Rosenthal -- who has been the leading district attorney in the U.S. in terms of seeking and getting the death penalty -- has resigned from office.Tut-tut...

Breaking news, part one

Posted on February 15, 2008
Courtesy of Steve Hall from Stand Down Texas, we learn that John Penry, a mentally retarded person on Texas' death row, will not spend his life in prison instead of facing execution.For those who have followed Penry's case up and down the courts -- including two successful Supreme Court rulings -- this is big and welcome news indeed...

Suddenly it is becoming quite clear....

Posted on February 13, 2008
On Jan. 20, 2006 we created a bit of a firestorm when we blogged about some newly issued guidelines from the U.S. Army. It seems that the U.S. Army had updated its execution protocol. Most of the changes were minor with one exception that seemed to stand out...

I know the Geneva Convention is around here somewhere....

Posted on February 11, 2008
Those of you who saw today's New York Times or found yourself surfing through the blogosphere today may have heard the news:Military prosecutors today issued the first charges relating to the September 11 attacks, saying they would seek the death penalty against six detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, including the alleged mastermind of the plot, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed...

In a nutshell....

Posted on February 11, 2008
Last Friday we brought you breaking news: Nebraska's Supreme Court ruled use of the electric chair unconstitutional. This leaves the state currently without an effective death penalty statute.Here's the key quote from the judge who wrote the court's 6-1 majority opinion:"We recognize the temptation to make the prisoner suffer, just as the prisoner made an innocent victim suffer...

Breaking news out of Nebraska

Posted on February 08, 2008
The Nebraska Supreme Court, in a sharply worded ruling, has struck down that state's use of the electric chair. Because Nebraska has no back-up method of execution, it is now left with no effective death penalty statute.15 states down, 35 to go!

And now, from the lighter side....

Posted on February 07, 2008
From time to time Abolish the Death Penalty has turned our readers attention to awards garnered by local activists associated with our state affiliates -- like when Jane Bohman, head of our Illinois affiliate, was honored by Chicago Business Magazine, or when Celeste Fitzgerald, head of our New Jersey affiliate, received similar recognition as a mover and shaker...

There's a new blog in town

Posted on February 01, 2008
It belongs to InCASE, which stands for the Indiana Coalition Acting to Suspend Executions. You can find it here.

The execution of Ricky Ray Rector

Posted on January 24, 2008
Today is the 16th anniversary of the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a severely mentally handicapped man executed by the state of Arkansas.There's a bit of history attendant to this execution, for several reasons. At the request of our colleague Jason, we've guest-blogged on this execution over at www...

An interesting turn of events in Malaysia

Posted on January 23, 2008
Imagine a Texan traveling abroad.Now imagine a Texan was arrested, unfairly charged with a capital crime, convicted and sentenced to death.Would it make Texas -- the leading execution state in the U.S. -- rethink its position on the issue of the death penalty? I don't know...

NCADP 2008: Special Recognition Award

Posted on January 22, 2008
Due to circumstances mostly beyond our control, we are a little tardy in posting the final award given at this year's NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream conference. We meant to post on Sunday and couldn't, and then we were travelling back to Washington, D...

NCADP 2008: Lighting the Torch Award

Posted on January 19, 2008
We continue our series of NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream awardees. The highlight of the conference is tonight, with a reception and book-signing by Mike Farrell, star of M*A*S*H and so many other programs. Following that is our awards banquet.Today we bring you the NCADP 2008 Lighting the Torch Award, presented to the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for their resolute opposition to the death penalty...

NCADP 2008: Legal Service Awardees

Posted on January 18, 2008
We were unable to get online yesterday due to the crush of conference business. But today we're back with our NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream awardees. Today we recognize three recipients of the annual Legal Service Award. They are David Kendall, Elisabeth Semel and the Death Penalty Clinic of UC Berkeley and the law firm Morrison & Foerster...

NCADP 2008: (Co) Abolitionist of the year, part two

Posted on January 16, 2008
Today, a couple of hours before we board the flight to San Jose, we bring you the latest installment in the series of NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream awardees. Today we are recognizing Natasha Minsker, death penalty policy director for the ACLU of Northern California...

NCADP 2008: (Co) Abolitionist of the Year

Posted on January 15, 2008
Today we continue our series honoring the NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream Awardees. Yesterday we recognized Mike Farrell; today, we are recognizing Stefanie Faucher, program manager at California-based Death Penalty Focus, an NCADP affiliate and co-host of this year's conference...

John Edwards and the death penalty

Posted on January 15, 2008
This popped up in my email box this morning. It's from Bill Pelke, who is the outgoing chair of the NCADP Board of Directors (you'll be reading more about Bill in a few days).I think this letter speaks for itself:An Open letter to Senator John Edwards: January 14, 2007Dear Senator Edwards,I listened to you today on NPR radio...

NCADP 2008: Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted on January 14, 2008
As noted earlier, this week we are featuring this year's crop of NCADP awardees. Today we kick off the series by recognizing Mike Farrell, recipient of this year's NCADP Lifetime Achievement Award. Special thanks to NCADP Board Member Paul O'Shea for writing this up:When Mike Farrell steps to the podium this week to receive the NCADP Lifetime Achievement Award, he will join a distinguished group of individuals renowned for their work to abolish the death penalty...

The war at home

Posted on January 14, 2008
We (and countless others) have warned about this. And now, courtesy of those who brought us the preemptive invasion of Iraq, it's happening: the violence is following us home.No, no, no -- not in the form of terrorists (or non-terrorists) attacking the U...

Fired up! Ready to go! NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream

Posted on January 14, 2008
We're headed for San Jose this week as NCADP hosts our annual conference, NCADP 2008: Reaching for the Dream. The conference is co-hosted by California-based Death Penalty Focus.This week, we'll be presenting "mini-profiles" of the people we'll be honoring at our awards banquet, which happens Saturday evening and is the conference's crowning jewel...

Spirko commuted, the band-aid approach to Ohio?s broken system continues

Posted on January 09, 2008
John Spirko was commuted by Governor Strickland in Ohio. DNA fails to link him to the crime for which he was scheduled to die in a few weeks. I should note I am sure David or Abe (an Ohio native) will have more. I also find that the lack of physical evidence linking Mr...

Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation

Posted on January 09, 2008
This message popped up in my email box today. Of course we are happy to pass the news along:Host George Reiter of Thresholds will be interviewing Bill Lucero and Amy White of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation on KPFT, the Pacifica station in Houston, this Thursday, Jan 9, from from 11am to 12 noon central time...

A distraction, not a solution

Posted on January 04, 2008
We recently were pleased to see a letter to the editor published in the Kansas City Star. The letter was signed by Renny Cushing, head of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, an NCADP affiliate. You can visit their blog, For Victims, Against the Death Penalty, here...

A nice thought for 2008

Posted on January 02, 2008
Stumbled across this short essay in the LA Times:Falling out of love with deathThough a majority of Americans back capital punishment, surveys find growingunease over itBy Vince BeiserJanuary 1, 2008The media are abuzz over the 40th anniversary of 1968, the year that saw somuch change in this country...

Will Alabama execute an innocent man?

Posted on December 27, 2007
This excellent op-ed showed up in my email box this morning (hat tip: Esther Brown)We have the author's permission to post it in its entirety. The author is Mary Shaw, well-known in abolitionist circles, particularly in Pennsylvania. Mary is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice...

If you think executions are expensive....

Posted on December 26, 2007
In my email this afternoon I received this great reminder from NCADP affiliate KCADP:Executions are Expensive, so is STOPPING them!!!2007 is almost over. It is not too late to make that tax-deductible donation to KCADP.Visit www.kcadp.org and use PayPal for a safe way to contribute or to sign up as a paying member...

'An absolutely ecstatic moment for civility'

Posted on December 26, 2007
Looks like the video Abe kindly posted below disappeared, as YouTube videos tend to do, rather randomly sometimes.No matter. You can see the wonderful video by going here. It's posted over at Blue Jersey. Although the piece is nine minutes long, I'd encourage everyone to watch it...

Report from Rome

Posted on December 22, 2007
Jay Lassiter fron BlueJersey.com has returned from his trip to Rome, where he went to give witness to the lighting of the Colosseum in honor of ABOLITION in New Jersey, and then for a second night in a row, to honor the vote for a global death penalty moratorium at the United Nations...

The editorials just keep coming

Posted on December 20, 2007
Across the country, newspapers have been weighing in on New Jersey's decision to repeal the death penalty. And, although I may have missed it, I have yet to see a newspaper that has come out against New Jersey's action.Here is an editorial that appeared today in the Anniston (Alabama) Star...

A Brighter New Jersey

Posted on December 18, 2007
This morning I woke up to a brighter New Jersey, as evidenced by the headline found by my puppies as we started out for our morning stroll. That's Governor on the left and Lance on the right. Governor was so named because, 7 years ago, we needed a Governor who would listen to us...

Governor Corzine Signs The Bill

Posted on December 18, 2007

NJ Governor Signs Abolition Bill

Posted on December 18, 2007
Greetings!This morning (12/17/07) at about 10:30am, NJ Governor made it official. Here's a few snaps. Yep, I managed to get that close. Here is a photo from the Gov's web page in which you can see me taking these pictures, and here to see others from that site...

"Truth Springs Up"

Posted on December 17, 2007
From todays NJ Abolition Bill Signing Ceremony....Blogger only allows so many seconds worth of video, so I'm posting Sr. Helen's comments in three sections. Here is the first one.

The Colosseum

Posted on December 17, 2007
Sr. Helen announces that the Colosseum will be lit up to honor New Jersey's historic step to abolition. Click here to see an image and a brief round up of the impact of New Jersey's action thus far. This image of the Colosseum is courtesy of Jay Lassiter of BlueJersey...