In an early-May issue of The New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin tells the story of one prosecutor’s effortsto combat mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on African Americans. In the story, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm comes to realize that racial disparities exist not only at the incarceration level but also in how the system…
EJUSA executive director Shari Silberstein was in Washington, DC last weekend for the Mothers in Charge Standing For Peace and Justice National Rally. Mothers in Charge, a national organization of mothers and other families who have lost loved ones to homicide, held the rally to draw attention to the trauma and needs of families left…
By Maryland State Delegate Sandy Rosenberg, with Tom Waldron Repealing the death penalty in Maryland was an arduous task that took many years – with many ups and downs. It culminated in 2013, when the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 276, Death Penalty Repeal – Substitution of Life Without the Possibility of Parole, with the crucial…
All eyes have been on Baltimore in the last few weeks following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year old black man who died in police custody last month. Much of the media has focused on the protests or the indictments of six police officers in the case. Others have called attention to the broader…
Texas’ reputation as a lock-em-up state is losing steam. Over the last several years, Texas has closed three adult corrections facilities, reduced probation term lengths, improved funding for substance abuse treatment and other alternatives to incarceration, and helped people returning from prison to rebuild their lives. State policy-makers have also rejected various bills that would…
A new report, Bridging the Divide: A new paradigm for addressing safety, crime, and victimization, was released today calling for a different approach to addressing crime. The report says that many of the communities that are currently hurt by a prevalence of crime and violence are also being damaged by the criminal justice system’s response…
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…
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…
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…
Illinois is using the savings from repealing the death penalty to improve support for families of homicide victims. Funds for this initiative came from the Death Penalty Abolition Fund, which was established as a result of Illinois’ repeal of the death penalty in 2011. The goal was to make sure that repeal was more than…