Newline articles filtered by state

This week’s repeal vote in Maryland may be getting all the attention right now, but there are 32 other states with the death penalty, and people mobilizing for repeal in all of them.

A new study shows that more than 20% of the people on Alabama’s death row are there because a judge sent them there - against the wishes of the juries that had sentenced them to life withou

Leroy White was executed in Alabama three weeks ago - despite strong opposition by the family of the murder victim.

Imagine a lunch counter where white people freely entered but black people were systematically turned away, being told it was because of their clothes, their hair, or the way they walked.

Looking back on this year, and the years that preceded it, I noticed a pattern. I realized that being a part of the movement to end the death penalty is a lot like making popcorn.

"If you ever get the chance to hear Bryan Stevenson speak about the death penalty, do NOT miss it. Seriously.

2006 was a busy inaugural year for EJUSA’s Southeast Field Office. We’re tilting at the windmills of the country’s most entrenched death penalty systems to build a grassroots movement to halt executions. In 2006, EJUSA:

• Sparked a new statewide moratorium campaign in South Carolina.
• Helped Georgia groups push moratorium legislation to the state Senate floor for the first time.
• Launched a public education campaign in response to a scathing report of Georgia’s death penalty by the American Bar Association.

In December 2005, EJUSA opened its second field office. The Southeast Field Office is based in Georgia and will provide key support to moratorium campaigns in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. We hired Catilla R. Everette to run the new office, bringing EJUSA’s permanent staff to three, and greatly increasing our presence in the “death belt” – the home to most U.S. executions.

North Carolina and California both instituted studies of their state death penalties.

New Mexico’s House of Representatives voted to abolish the death penalty. Unfortunately, the bill lost by one vote in the Senate committee.

Connecticut’s Judiciary Committee voted to abolish the death penalty. (The bill died on the House floor.)

Moratorium bills passed out of committee in Alabama, Texas, and North Carolina.

EJUSA provided advising, staffing, grassroots mobilization, and/or other support to these campaigns throughout the year.

When it comes to the death penalty, Alabama has never produced the big headlines that Texas has. However, with the fastest growing death row population per capita in the United States, this might soon change.