Five years ago, we set out to build a movement to halt executions, resolution by resolution, church by church, and school by school.
We dreamed that our strategy would shatter the political inertia of the anti-death penalty struggle and build the people’s movement that is now sweeping the nation. Capturing the imagination of local and state organizers, we planted seeds of hope that helped launch the country’s first state moratorium campaigns in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey, and even Texas.
Within three years, Illinois had imposed a moratorium. In 2001, 19 states considered moratorium bills. And in 2002, we won the nation’s second victory in our home state of Maryland.
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.
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