Equal Justice USA is leading an effort to increase the capacity for police and the community to respond to trauma in the wake of violence. This fall, a team of facilitators will be leading trainings on trauma-informed responses to violence with the Newark Police Department and Newark community members: “Trauma Informed Responses to Violence: Newark…
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EJUSA attended the 6th Annual Healing Justice Alliance Conference, a convening that brought together crime survivors, innovative community-based violence prevention programs, hospital-based violence reduction programs, and other criminal justice and public health partners. EJUSA is pleased to have been a part of a number of convenings in recent months that break down silos between public…
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The National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) met last month as part of the annual conference of the National Conference of State Legislators. One of the items on their agenda was a resolution calling for an end to the death penalty. Though they had originally planned to take up the measure at their meeting…
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#DeathPenaltyFail is a new campaign using films to raise the conversation about the death penalty in the United States. EJUSA is a leading partner in the campaign, working to mobilize #DeathPenaltyFail film viewers to get involved in the movement to end the death penalty Check out the films and the website here. Here’s a trailer…
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A new report from Harvard’s Fair Punishment Project found that the few counties that still use the death penalty are highly dysfunctional. One of the counties they identified is Duval County, Florida – a place where EJUSA organizer, Christine Henderson, lives and works. Christine and our local allies were outraged that their hometown’s record on…
Read MoreFamilies of murder victims from across the country are calling on the Duval County State Attorney’s Office to demand a halt to the county’s use of the death penalty due to the harm it inflicts on surviving families. 55 family members signed a letter released today by EJUSA and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation (MVFR). “The…
Read MoreAll of us have suffered the tragedy of losing a loved one to murder. We intimately understand the deep pain caused by such loss and the challenges that families face in rebuilding their lives. Our criminal justice system must be responsive to the needs of murder victims’ families. Sadly, Duval County’s use of the death…
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More than 20 Duval County, Florida, religious leaders participated in an EJUSA press conference in front of the County Courthouse today. They gathered in reaction to a report from the Fair Punishment Project branding Duval County an “outlier” in its overuse of the death penalty. Clergy released a letter to the State Attorney’s Office signed…
Read More“Recommended this week” features highlights from the past week in news about the death penalty, crime survivors, and trauma-informed responses to crime. Are Evangelicals Ditching the Death Penalty?, The Marshall Project Another sign of how the U.S. is changing on the death penalty: Evangelical Christians are turning against it. Heather Beaudoin, our Director of Evangelical Outreach quoted in…
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Recently I spoke to Wanda Moore, an Assistant Attorney General in New Jersey and the Director of the Office of Community Justice, about her work to reduce trauma and violence through positive youth development programs, community-based crime prevention strategies, and system wide change. Ms. Moore leads cutting-edge, place-based solutions work in several cities in New…
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