Today is a day for reflection. And I want to share the two thoughts foremost on my mind. The first is gratitude for the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his impact — while he was alive but also the enduring influence he has on our world, and the example he…
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The past two decades have brought a steady, state-by-state dismantling of the death penalty, and 2021 proved no different. We saw the first former Confederate state repeal the death penalty when Virgina Governor George Northam signed the state’s new law into the books. That stroke…
In his own words, Clemente Aguirre describes how he spent almost 15 years on death row in Florida for a crime he didn’t commit. I know the torture of fighting against a government that wanted to kill me. The state saw me as just a disposable, undocumented immigrant, and I lost almost 15 years of…
A first term president has — officially — 1,460 days to enact an agenda through policy and action for the American people. But the first 100 days have always drawn a huge amount of attention as a traditional measure of what’s to come. They are presented with all the opportunity and hope of a new…
For nearly two decades, the death penalty has perished in one state after another. There is no question that America’s most egregious response to violence is on its way out. And Scott Langley has been a powerful force in this movement. Scott is a freelance photojournalist whose passion is documenting the death penalty. His work…
Reimagining Justice This Month: March 2021 Reimagining Justice This Month highlights stories about effective responses to violence – responses that disrupt cycles of violence, heal trauma, and address structural racism. Are Life Sentences a Merciful Alternative to the Death Penalty?, Mother Jones Virginia’s recent repeal of the death penalty was both a reckoning with a…
Today, Governor Ralph Northam signed the bill to repeal Virginia’s death penalty, enacting it into law. Virginia is officially the 23rd state to end its death penalty. The work on the ground to achieve this victory was amazing, including our partners from Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and the Virginia Interfaith Center on…
Reimagining Justice This Month | February 2021 Reimagining Justice This Month highlights stories about effective responses to violence – responses that disrupt cycles of violence, heal trauma, and address structural racism. Evaluation Reports Newark Community Street Team’s Efforts are Effective in Crime Reduction, TAPintoNewark Few cities have done as much as Newark, NJ, to think…
This. Is. Big. Virginia, a former Confederate state that has executed more people than any other state in the country, just just voted to end the death penalty, with the House of Delegates passing an abolition bill 57-41. Virginia’s achievement today once again sounds the death penalty’s demise. But it does more than that. It…
My heart is full as I write this message. On July 31, 2021, I will step down as the executive director of EJUSA after more than 20 years at this organization that I love. The events of the last year have intensified the urgency to reverse centuries of racial injustice in our nation. That…