In a North Carolina Courtroom on Tuesday, a judge overturned the death sentence and conviction of the state’s longest serving death row inmate. Henry McCollum walked free after DNA evidence linked the crime to another person. He had been on death row for over three decades – since he was 19 years old. McCollum’s brother,…
EJUSA National Organizer Heather Beaudoin will be traveling to Raleigh, North Carolina later this month to attend the Christian Community Development Association’s (CCDA) conference. The annual gathering brings together more than 2,500 young, dynamic faith leaders who are making change in underserved communities around the country. CCDA will hold its first dialogue on the death…
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,…
The NAACP has been an essential partner in our most recent campaigns to end the death penalty. This year marked their 105th National Convention, and EJUSA National Organizer Cherrell Brown traveled to Las Vegas to participate. In addition to catching up with some of our strongest allies in the organization, Cherrell made new connections with…
The National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC), a coalition of over 3,000 Hispanic evangelical churches, released a call yesterday for “Hispanic evangelical leaders to closely examine their stance on capital punishment and mass incarceration.” President of NaLEC, Rev. Gabriel Salguero, says that the death penalty is “too broken to ensure that innocent persons are not executed.”…
Recently, I gave a talk at the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s annual conference about words we should stop using when we talk about the death penalty. They’re words like: controversial, courageous, brave, hard. These words send the wrong message. They give the impression that only a few people can change the conversation…
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…
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,”…
EJUSA Executive Director Shari Silberstein and EJUSA’s longtime friend and partner, Jonathan Gradess, are featured in the Winter 2014 issue of the Government, Law and Policy Journal from the New York State Bar Association. Jonathan is the former Board Chair of New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and now sits on EJUSA’s Board…
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…