Expanding Grassroots Momentum and Organization

Nationwide, 63 local governments and nearly 2,000 national, state, and local organizations and faith communities have adopted resolutions urging a moratorium. Equal Justice USA maintains this national listing on its National Tally.

Momentum continued after September 11 with the Lincoln, Nebraska City Council; West Hollywood and Santa Clara County, California; and Cincinnati, Ohio all adopting resolutions urging a halt to executions. Moratorium resolutions continue to be considered everyday in communities around the country. Notable additions in 2001 included the Medical Society of the State of New York, the American Psychological Association, and the National Conference of Black Mayors.

Throughout 2001, Equal Justice USA’s MORATORIUM NOW! campaign continued to serve the national movement as an information and organizing clearinghouse. Our national organizing staff provided materials, training, support, and encouragement to activists on a daily basis. For the third year in a row, we coordinated the Moratorium Organizing Committee, a network linking activists from 24 states via e-mail and conference calls.

Our website has been expanded and made more user friendly. A new comprehensive STATE BY STATE section went on-line in December, which includes links to state contacts, action alerts, state legislation, and other news and information.

By Shari Silberstein

Since 2000, Shari Silberstein has dedicated her career to transforming the justice system from one that harms to one that heals. Under her leadership, and using campaign strategies she helped develop, Equal Justice USA has helped end the death penalty in nine states, built first-of-its-kind conservative and evangelical coalitions for justice reform, secured millions in state funding for healing services to families of murder victims, launched an innovative model for training and dialogue between police and communities on trauma and race equity, and strengthened dozens of local organizations across the nation working for justice, violence reduction, and healing. Shari has been a national voice in helping to break down the silos between criminal justice reformers and crime survivor advocates. Her expertise has been a source in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, and Harper’s Magazine, and she has written op-eds for an array of media outlets, including Fox News, the Marshall Project, and U.S. News and World Report. Shari has a bachelor's degree in film from New York University and a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Texas at Austin.