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Conservatives Concerned About The Death Penalty receives 500th media hit

Today’s op-ed in the Pensacola News Journal marks the 500th media hit for Equal Justice USA’s Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty project. Stories about or sparked by the project have appeared in print, online, over the radio, and on television since the project’s national founding in March of 2013.

Sources have ranged from small, independent blogs to nationally televised news shows to local talk radio to national newspapers.

In addition to seeing the mainstream media reporting on the growing number of political and social conservatives who have concerns about the death penalty, there has been a steady stream of stories in traditionally conservative media sources that outline the flaws in the death penalty.

“Conservatives of all stripes are questioning whether the death penalty is compatible with conservative values like limited government, fiscal responsibility, and a culture of life,” said Marc Hyden, EJUSA’s Conservative Outreach Specialist and national coordinator of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (CCATDP).

EJUSA officially launched the national CCATDP project at CPAC in 2013 after working with a group of Montana conservatives who had formed their own Conservatives Concerned project. With the support and wisdom from the Montana group as well as a strong interest from conservatives from around the country, EJUSA saw the opportunity to form a network of conservatives who question the alignment of capital punishment with conservative principles and values.

Visit the Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty news feed to see many of the media hits from the last 18 months, or visit their YouTube Channel to see several of the television and radio broadcasts in which they’ve participated.

Just a few of our favorites:

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Mothers turn pain into action

What do people affected by crime and those affected by the criminal justice system have in common?

A lot more than is commonly believed – since people of color are most likely to be victims of crime and the targets of our justice system’s over-reliance on incarceration. This reality was front and center at this year’s Mothers in Charge (MIC) 2nd annual conference in Philadelphia, “The Cost of Violence.”

EJUSA was proud to help coordinate the conference, and to welcome one of our board members, Jesselyn McCurdy, who gave a workshop.

The unifying theme was trauma. Women whose children had been murdered, women who had been incarcerated or had loved ones in prison, and women who had experienced the system from both sides were among the people who shared the stage. It was clear that every one of them had been affected by trauma.

The prevalence of trauma in high-crime areas is becoming increasingly recognized. One study of in Philadelphia found that almost 75% of urban crime survivors have full-blown Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder.

Support services are slim to none in such communities. The criminal justice system responds with one, blunt tool: prison, which does nothing to treat trauma for the crime survivors.

Many conference speakers from academia and the public sector talked about the way unaddressed trauma feeds a cycle of violence. One said the core feeling in traumatized individuals is powerlessness. With no help to gain a sense of control over their lives, picking up a gun can become a potent escape from that feeling.

Another explained how Philadelphia was working to become the nation’s first “trauma informed” city in the country, so that unaddressed trauma could be recognized and dealt with across agencies. EJUSA has already been in touch with the department to learn more.

“At one point in the conference, a woman whose son was serving a life sentence got up, crying, to tell her story and thank Mothers in Charge for the work they had done to help her son. She received a standing ovation from a crowd of mothers whose children had been murdered,” said EJUSA’s Executive Director Shari Silberstein. “We need a justice system that recognizes the common needs between people affected by crime from all sides. That poignant moment was a reminder that the connections are obvious to the people most impacted by violence.”

Hear some of the incredible speakers yourself in this video collection of the conference.

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Maryland To Dedicate Support for Families of Murder Victims For the First Time

New funding comes from savings from repealing the death penalty

Maryland’s FY15 budget, passed today, includes new funding ($500,000) for support and services to family members of homicide victims. This special designation puts Maryland in the vanguard of states recognizing the needs of this often overlooked population of crime victims.

Companion legislation to require ongoing consideration of murder victims’ families in future budgets is also near final passage after unanimous votes in both the Maryland House and Senate.

These two landmark items come a year after Maryland repealed the death penalty, and were made possible by the savings created by ending the death penalty. Maryland is the second state in the country after Illinois to reallocate savings from death penalty repeal to improve services for victims’ families.

“The nation is undergoing a transformation in the way we respond to violence,” said Shari Silberstein, Executive Director of Equal Justice USA, a national organization that led the coalition pushing for both the funding and last year’s death penalty repeal.

“A common refrain from families of murder victims was that the death penalty was a failure. Today Maryland is leading the nation by putting something positive for victims’ families in its place,” Ms. Silberstein continued.

“Without the death penalty to distract and divide us, it was easy to find common ground. Lawmakers and advocates all agree that victims matter,” said Ms. Silberstein. “We have an obligation as a society to help crime survivors to rebuild their lives. That should be a core goal of our justice system, but it’s a goal that is all too often overlooked. Maryland is taking an important step forward in remedying this.”

Family members of murder victims were leading voices in the campaign to repeal Maryland’s death penalty and use the savings to expand services that would help them in the aftermath of losing a loved one. The funding was amended out of the death penalty repeal bill before final passage last year, but Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley included it in this year’s budget anyway.

Repeal advocates built a coalition with victims’ advocates with divergent views on the death penalty to make the case that Maryland must do more for murder victims’ families. Unanimous votes on the companion legislation in both chambers revealed deeply held common ground between pro- and anti-repeal lawmakers that Maryland must stop leaving these families behind.

Bonnita Spikes, whose husband Michael Spikes was murdered in 1994, was one of the leading advocates calling for death penalty repeal and funding for victims’ services as a member of the broad coalition.

“The police never found the person or persons who killed my husband,” said Ms. Spikes. “I have had to learn to live with this lack of resolution. Our then 13-year-old son, Michael, was so devastated he tried to commit suicide and was hospitalized over the next three years with depression, and still struggles with it today. Over and over, I have met other families in dire need of support and traumatic grief counseling services. Most don’t have any insurance. Nor are they resourceful in knowing who to go and beg for help. For most of these families, the notion of a death sentence in their loved ones’ murders isn’t even a remote thought. They are struggling to hold their households together, to help their families grieve and survive the trauma one day at a time. I am proud to be a Marylander today and to know that my state is making sure these families aren’t left behind.” Ms. Spikes is the Victims’ Advocate and Organizer for Maryland Citizens Against State Executions and a member of Maryland’s State Board of Victim Services. She is also a former organizer with EJUSA and worked closely with EJUSA to advocate for the funding.

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The Exonorees Come to Delaware

Last month, 13 death row exonorees from Witness to Innocence came to Delaware to share their stories and speak out for repeal of the death penalty. Audiences across the state were moved to hear their heart-wrenching stories of years wrongfully spent on death row.

“Each exoneree’s story reminds us why this campaign is so important,” said Brian Boyle of the Delaware Repeal Project. As long as Delaware continues to use the death penalty, we run the risk of executing an innocent person. That’s why Senate Bill 19 deserves a vote in the House.”

Delaware’s State Senate passed repeal legislation last year, but it’s been held up in a House committee ever since.

You can help bring it to a vote by joining the phone-banking team! Using patch-through technology, you’ll call Delaware voters and persuade them to leave messages in support of repeal with their legislators. It’s easy, fun, and you can do it from the comfort of your own home! Sign up today!

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A Huge Step Towards Better Support for Murder Victims’ Families in Maryland

Yesterday Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley released his budget. For the first time ever, the budget included $500,000 to assist families of homicide victims!

EJUSA supporters joined with Maryland Citizens Against State Executions and other coalition partners to send thousands of messages to Governor O’Malley last year asking him to use savings from ending the death penalty to support families of murder victims.

People like you kept up the pressure even after that provision got stripped from the death penalty repeal bill. O’Malley promised to make the allocation without the bill, and yesterday that promise came through. The budget still has to pass through the legislature, but this was a huge step.

Stay tuned for further developments.

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What you did in 2013

There are only a few days left in 2013, but I’m already feeling nostalgic – and grateful. You helped us accomplish so much this year. Because of your support:

  • Maryland became the sixth state in six years to end the death penalty this May. And when a small group of repeal opponents tried to “repeal the repeal,” they couldn’t muster even the bare minimum of signatures needed.
  • We gave a workshop to 50 evangelical pastors at the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
  • The “Divine 9,” the world’s largest network of historically black sororities and fraternities, featured the death penalty for the first time at their annual Atlanta Greek Picnic. Since then, over a dozen local chapters of black Greek organizations have passed resolutions in favor of repeal.
  • The Nation and CIVIC joined EJUSA to lead a panel that connected the death penalty to the larger context of criminal justice issues at The Allied Media Conference.
  • Our campaigners and organizers provided more than $2.2 million worth of free consulting services to state and local groups working to end the death penalty and strengthen services for crime survivors.
  • We deepened our connections with groups working to reduce violence and helped a group in Pennsylvania host their first national conference on violence prevention.
  • Our study guide for the new book I Am Troy Davis was featured on Democracy Now! and has been distributed at book events across the country.
  • Our project, Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, debuted at CPAC, the nation’s most influential conservative gathering. Conservative grassroots leaders from around the country joined the launch. Conservatives Concerned has since received over 250 media hits ranging from the Daily Caller to MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell in a segment seen by 1.2 million viewers.

You helped build a community that is larger, stronger, and more diverse than ever before.

Thank you for everything!

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North Carolina poll shows state is moving away from the death penalty

A recent survey by Public Policy Polling found that nearly 70% of the residents of North Carolina support ending the death penalty if the offenders pay restitution to victims’ families, are required to work, and remain in prison for life.

A majority of the poll-takers who identified themselves as politically conservative said they also favor ending the death penalty and using the money spent on it to help victims’ families.

Tom Jensen, Director of Public Policy Polling says, “The days when the death penalty enjoyed near-universal support are clearly over. Across the country, poll after poll has shown that.”

Read more about the poll here.

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Video: Watch this incredible MSNBC segment on how the death penalty is being rewritten

The Last Word aired an incredible segment last night on how the death penalty in America is being rewritten – and it featured our project, Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty!

The show’s host, Lawrence O’Donnell said: “We now have good reason to expect support for the death penalty to continue to drop, thanks to Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.”

O’Donnell also gave a major shout-out to our friends at Death Penalty Focus. And the self-proclaimed lefty said he wanted give Ron Paul a standing ovation. Check it out!

When you’re done watching, take the pledge to participate in the 2014 campaigns to repeal the death penalty and share the video – and the pledge – on Facebook and Twitter so that we can take this forward momentum all the way!

Death Penalty on 'The Last Word'

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Video: Why ‘Young Americans for Liberty’ Are For Repeal

The liberty movement is a growing wing of the GOP, crossing over with the Tea Party, and Young Americans for Liberty is the largest, most active, and fastest growing liberty organization on America’s campuses.

Last month YAL announced a Strategic Partnership with Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. Here, YAL’s Kansas State Chair shares his views on the issue.

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More Than Just A Good Read

Almost two years ago, Troy Davis was executed in Georgia despite significant doubt about his guilt. Nearly a million people across the globe spoke out about his case. His name became synonymous with the broken death penalty system.

EJUSA is excited to announce a new book, I Am Troy Davis, co-authored by Jen Marlowe and Davis’ sister Martina Davis-Correia, that tells Davis’ story in more intimate detail than ever before: from his childhood in racially charged Savannah; the confused events that led to the 1980 shooting of police officer Mark MacPhail; and Davis’ sudden arrest, conviction, and two-decade fight to prove his innocence.

EJUSA is partnering with Amnesty International USA and the book I Am Troy Davis to release a discussion and study guide that invites you to not just read the book, but to engage in a meaningful way in the issues it raises.

If you are part of a book club or other group like a church or school group, now is the time to get the I Am Troy Davis book and Study Guide on the agenda.

You can order a copy of the book here. To request a copy of the study guide when it is available, sign up here.

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