Category: Emma done

U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Duane Buck’s racial bias death penalty case

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments in Buck v. Stephens, a death penalty case raising extraordinary issues of racial bias. Duane Buck is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s ruling that his case did not warrant re-consideration, despite his claim that his lawyer was constitutionally ineffective for knowingly introducing “expert” testimony that Mr. Buck was more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is black. Buck seeks a new, fair sentencing hearing.

Here is a statement from Duane Buck’s attorneys:

“Trial counsel’s knowing reliance on false, inflammatory and deeply prejudicial evidence explicitly linking Mr. Buck’s race to his likelihood of future dangerousness is plainly extraordinary.

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Meet the red-state conservatives fighting to abolish the death penalty

Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty was featured in the Sunday edition of the Washington Post. The article’s author, Marin Cogan, interviewed CCATDP’s Heather Beaudoin and myself, and Cogan highlighted why conservatives are increasingly changing their views on the death penalty. She wrote,

Beaudoin reaches out to evangelical and other faith-based leaders and gets them talking about policy; her colleague Marc Hyden, the group’s national advocacy coordinator, works with movement conservatives, college Republicans, tea party activists and libertarians.

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Recommended this week

“Recommended this week” features highlights from the past week in news about the death penalty, crime survivors, and trauma-informed responses to crime.

Meet the red-state conservatives fighting to abolish the death penalty, The Washington Post
In college, Senator Colby Coash celebrated at a tailgate party outside of a prison during an execution. Now he’s part of the growing conservative movement to end the death penalty in the United States. In an in-depth article about that movement, The Washington Post interviews EJUSA staff members Heather Beaudoin and Marc Hyden, both part of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
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Leading Latino Coalition Calls for End of the Death Penalty in U.S.

Group’s landmark policy agenda addresses criminal justice for the first time

The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 40 prominent Latino organizations, has called for repeal of the death penalty. Collectively, the NHLA leads advocacy behind pressing civil rights and policy issues impacting the 58-million Latinos living in the U.S.

The NHLA Public Policy Agenda is issued only once every four years. This year it includes criminal justice reforms for the first time, as national scrutiny grows over race, the death penalty, and mass incarceration.

“Latinos are a growing part of the national trend away from the death penalty because they are directly affected by its injustices,” said Shari Silberstein, Executive Director of EJUSA, a national organization that launched a dialog with Latinos about the death penalty in 2012.

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Georgia refused to listen. Share your outrage.

Thank you so much for your letter last week to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. Thanks to people like you, we generated over 650 letters to stop an execution tainted by racial bias and a sleeping lawyer.

Georgia refused to listen. Kenneth Fults was executed last night for the 1997 killing of Cathy Bounds.

This is a stark reminder that the death penalty is broken beyond repair.

Share your outrage on Facebook and Twitter so your friends and followers can learn the truth and join us in the fight to end the death penalty.
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Recommended: 60 Minutes explores Germany’s transformative approach to justice

This weekend, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired a segment on prisons in Germany. The German approach emphasizes healing and rehabilitation. There’s no punishment for punishments’ sake. Loss of freedom is punishment enough, and the goal is to help those who commit harm to change their lives. Corrections officers are trained in psychology, communications, and de-escalation. Even Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Corrections was convinced after joining a tour of three German prisons.

Watch and/or read the full story at CBS News.

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Funding available for groups serving survivors in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has opened its application process for organizations to apply for funds through the Federal Victims Of Crime Act (VOCA). If you are an organization in Pennsylvania that works with crime survivors or victims’ families, you may be eligible to apply through this RFP process. Most importantly, Pennsylvania has identified men and boys of color who are victims as a priority underserved population. If your a group or organization supports victimized men and boys of color, you should definitely consider applying.

Through our VOCA Funding Toolkit, and assistance from our Grassroots Capacity Building Specialist, EJUSA can help groups determine if they are eligible, answer questions about the process, and provide some support for your group’s application. Please contact Latrina Kelly-James at latrinakj@ejusa.org or (203) 823-5826 or download the toolkit here.

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Funding available for groups serving survivors in Colorado

Colorado has opened its application process for organizations to apply for funds through the Federal Victims Of Crime Act (VOCA).  If you are an organization in Colorado that works with crime survivors or victims’ families, you may be eligible to apply through this RFP process.

Through our VOCA Funding Toolkit, and assistance from our Grassroots Capacity Building Specialist, EJUSA can help groups determine if they are eligible, answer questions about the process, and provide some support for your group’s application. Please contact Latrina Kelly-James at latrinakj@ejusa.org or (203) 823-5826 or download the toolkit here.

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Toolkit available for organizations serving crime survivors

EJUSA VOCA ToolkitAs part of our growing work to bring racial equity to victims’ services, EJUSA published a comprehensive toolkit to help groups apply for Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding. The toolkit is geared towards organizations serving crime survivors – particularly in communities of color – that have not had access to federal funding in the past.

EJUSA Grassroots Capacity Building Specialist Latrina Kelly-James led a webinar to introduce the toolkit and help organizations understand the funding that is available. Over 45 organizational leaders participated, and many more have downloaded the toolkit or reached out for support in applying for funds.
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