For those of you located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, I also invite you to attend NCADP’s 90 Million Strong Campaign Kickoff this weekend. You will hear from Maryland lawmakers about their successful repeal effort last year and learn more about what our new campaign has to offer. The party and music will be a lot of fun too. You can purchase your tickets online. Read More
You, the readers of Lifelines and supporters of NCADP, are the reason that we can continue this fight to end the death penalty. We wanted to extend our deepest gratitude to all who contributed money, time and energy to our quest to end the death penalty—both through the end-of-year fundraising drive as well as throughout the year! Read More
Despite the continued national trend away from the death penalty, we are off to a blustery start to the year when it comes to executions. Seven states had collectively scheduled 11 executions for this month alone. That’s shocking given that only nine states carried out executions in all of 2013. Read More
On January 16th, two states, Kansas and New Hampshire, held hearings in their capitals to consider legislation to repeal the death penalty. Both bills have bipartisan support from lawmakers and are being considered after extensive advocacy from abolition supporters. Read More
The holiday marking the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. coincides with the beginning of legislative sessions in state capitals across the country. In a number of state capitals policymakers will consider whether the death penalty should continue as a feature of their justice systems. Support for capital punishment continues to decline as a recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center indicates. The more people learn about the death penalty in action, the less they like it. Read More
In Gary Strauss’s USA Today article on the execution of Dennis McGuire, Diann Rust-Tierney states, “What’s happening is shocking. We’re seeing the underside of the death penalty: irresponsible behavior by states and the realization that there’s not a good way to kill people.This case and others are going to increase and galvanize those who oppose capital punishment and cause the public and policymakers to say. ‘What are we doing?'” Read More
In the 2013 legislative session, the legislature passed a bill repealing the 2009 Racial Justice Act, which Gov. McCrory subsequently signed into law. The Racial Justice Act permitted inmates to challenge sentences on the basis of race. Despite the repeal of the Racial Justice Act in 2013, several factors suggest that North Carolinians are moving away from the death penalty. Read More
