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…
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…
There are only a few days left in 2013, but I’m already feeling nostalgic – and grateful. You helped us accomplish so much this year. Because of your support: Maryland became the sixth state in six years to end the death penalty this May. And when a small group of repeal opponents tried to “repeal…
Almost two years ago, Troy Davis was executed in Georgia despite significant doubt about his guilt. Nearly a million people across the globe spoke out about his case. His name became synonymous with the broken death penalty system. EJUSA is excited to announce a new book, I Am Troy Davis, co-authored by Jen Marlowe and…
On June 26th, Kimberly McCarthy became the 500th person to be executed in Texas since the state resumed the death penalty in 1982. McCarthy’s execution proceeded despite claims that racial bias played a role in the conviction and death sentence. McCarthy, an African American convicted of killing her neighbor Dorothy Booth, faced a nearly all…
The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. released a new video highlighting the racial discrimination in the Texas death penalty system and the shocking case of death-sentenced prisoner, Duane Buck. < Mr. Buck was sentenced to death in Harris County (Houston), Texas, after his trial prosecutor elicited testimony from a psychologist indicating that Mr….
In 2006, the Chicago Tribune published a three-part investigative report that revealed the execution of Carlos DeLuna in Texas in 1989 may have been a case of mistaken identity. Today The Columbia Human Rights Law Review published The Wrong Carlos – a book-length study of the case that chronicles in shocking detail the massive series…
In the first case heard under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act (RJA), a judge found that racial bias played a significant role in the death sentence given to Marcus Reymond Robinson 18 years ago. Robinson’s sentence was changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The RJA, passed in 2009, allows death row…
April 22nd marks the 25th anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s decision in McCleskey v. Kemp. In this controversial decision the court ruled that it was “inevitable” that minorities would be treated worse by the criminal justice system and that the Constitution is only violated where it is proven that a specific person in a…