Jewish and Christian Scripture could play significant roles in the anti-death penalty movement if Americans would embrace their teachings on repentance and forgiveness, a panel of faith leaders said during a Nov. 7 webinar hosted by Uri L’Tzedek, a social…
Finding justice for both Maureen Faulkner and Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Black American political activist and journalist, has been incarcerated since he was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of Daniel Faulkner, a Philadelphia police officer. When a federal judge overturned the 1982…
With court’s blessing, Texas pastor touches, prays over inmate as he is executed
The Texas Baptist pastor who found himself at the center of a Supreme Court case on religious liberty for Death Row inmates was able to fulfill that inmate’s wishes as he was put to death by the State of Texas…
He served on the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, and now he’s rallying conservatives to oppose the death penalty
A former member of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has helped launch a new anti-death penalty group to educate fellow conservatives and lobby state lawmakers about the flaws of capital punishment. The new branch of Conservatives Concerned About the…
Faith leaders call for urgent opposition to Oklahoma plan to execute an inmate a month for two years
The state of Oklahoma has announced an unprecedented plan to execute 25 inmates over a two-year period beginning this month, about one execution per month. This plan will clear out more than half the current population on Oklahoma’s Death Row,…
Hearing from victims’ families changed the death penalty debate in Connecticut
Activists involved in the 2012 abolition of capital punishment in Connecticut say the perspectives of murder victims’ families was the key element in their campaign’s success. Even Michael Lawlor, the state’s criminal justice “czar” at the time, confirmed that those…
Ohioans make a pro-life argument to end capital punishment
An often-overlooked flaw of capital punishment is that it turns its supporters into de facto killers themselves, an opponent of the practice said during “Life Beyond the Death Penalty,” hosted by Ohioans to Stop Executions. Chicagoan Gail Rice, whose police…
How I came to oppose the death penalty
Do you have a book you can say changed your life? I do. I was a freshman in college when I read Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean. It had a profound impact on what I thought and believed…
Ohio’s death penalty opponents take their case to the court of public opinion
Activists seeking to abolish the death penalty in Ohio took their case to the court of public opinion April 7 with virtual testimony from the family and friends of homicide victims about the immorality and futility of capital punishment. “Even…