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Abolish the Death Penalty

Advocacy for abolishment of capital punishment. Features personal stories of crime victims, death row inmates and activists.
By National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

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Last Entry: July 08, 2013 at 14:33:00

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...

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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...

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