Our Accomplishments
EJUSA has been a longtime leader in the movement to repeal the death penalty, partnering with state organizations in over a two-dozen states over the years. EJUSA has played a central role in many of the nation's most successful state campaigns, including:
- Repealed the death penalty in Maryland, in partnership with Maryland Citizens Against State Executions (MDCASE).
- Repealed the death penalty in Connecticut in 2012, in partnership with the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty.
- Repealed the death penalty in Illinois in 2011, in partnership with the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
- Repealed the death penalty in New Jersey in 2007, in partnership with New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
- Ended the death penalty in New York in 2005, in partnership with New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty.
- Passed repeal legislation through the Montana Senate in 2009 and 2011, in partnership with the Montana Abolition Coalition.
Additional Accomplishments:
Organizing
- Trained organizers and local groups in over two-dozen states, through training retreats, workshops, and on site facilitation.
- Deployed or funded on-the-ground field organizers in Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Georgia, Washington State, North Carolina, and Florida over the years.
- Developed or assisted repeal and moratorium efforts in more than 30 states.
- Pioneered the grassroots organizing strategy that has sparked moratorium resolution campaigns from North Carolina to California and dozens of states in between.
- Recruited and/or tallied 4,837 faith communities, organizations, local businesses, and other groups to call for a moratorium on executions, including 152 local governments, such as New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Nashville, and Atlanta. Maintained the National Tally of moratorium endorsers to track resolutions across the country.
- Produced and distributed 5,000 organizing packets with educational materials and other tools for organizers to use in their communities.
- Developed new workshops and model organizing projects to help states reach out to unlikely allies, including law enforcement, victims’ family members and victims’ service providers, and conservatives.
Publications
- Reasonable Doubts: Is the U.S. Executing Innocent People? [pdf], a comprehensive report documenting the cases of 15 men who were executed despite compelling claims of innocence.
- Two educational brochures as part of our Equal Justice Under Law? series: How Racism Riddles the U.S. Death Penalty and Innocent: How Wrongful Convictions Riddle the U.S. Death Penalty.
- Capital Case Handbook for Defendants and their Families [pdf], an in-depth tabloid covering everything from working with public defenders to understanding the appeals process for those accused of capital crimes to better navigate our legal system.
- A series of investigative reports focused on Pennsylvania: Green County Supermax: Pennsylvania's Human Rights Nightmare; Trampling the Public Trust: Philadelphia Police Abuses; and The Judge Who Became Death Row's King: Philadelphia's Judge Sabo.
Direct assistance to prisoners and their families
The following activities were undertaken by EJUSA programs that are still housed at our former parent organization, the Quixote Center.
- Shipped over 20,000 donated books to prisoners in 50 states via the DC Area Books to Prisons Project.
- Sparked the exoneration of Jeffrey Deskovic, an innocent man who spent 19 years in prison in New York for a rape and murder he did not commit, by advocating for Jeffrey within the legal community until we found lawyers at the Innocence Project who agreed to take his case via the Grassroots Investigation Project/National Death Row Assistance Network.
- Networked attorneys, law students, activists, prisoners, and their families to build volunteer, pro-bono defense teams for under- or unrepresented prisoners via the Grassroots Investigation Project/National Death Row Assistance Network.
