THE EMPTY CHAIR
Take Action
These resources offer both information and direct actions for our viewers.
MVFR
Founded
in 1976, Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation is a national
organization of family members of both homicide and state killings who
oppose the death penalty in all cases. For more information, go to:
http://mvfr.com
MVFH founded
in 2005, Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, pledged victims'
family members and other allies to end the death penalty around the
world. For more information, go to: www.murdervictimsfamilies.org
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
Restorative
Justice is a systematic response to wrongdoing that emphasizes healing
the wounds of victims, offenders and communities caused or revealed by
the criminal behavior. Practices and programs reflecting restorative
purposes will respond to crime by: (a) identifying and taking steps to
repair harm, (b) involving all stakeholders, and (c) transforming the
traditional relationship between communities and their governments in
responding to crime.
For more information, go to: http://www.restorativejustice.org/
There are a number of national efforts and organizations focused on ending the death penalty.
ACLU
Support
the American Civic Liberties Union efforts to pass the National Death
Penalty Moratorium Act (S. 132), seeking to correct the flaws in the
capital punishment system and prevent any additional executions from
taking place until these problems are addressed.
Despite
its own study showing racial and geographic disparities in the use of
the federal death penalty, the U.S. government continues to carry out
executions. In the past year, federal judges in New York and Vermont
have ruled the federal death penalty unconstitutional because of
concerns ranging from the likelihood of executing someone who is
actually innocent to the lack of due process safeguards in the 1994
Federal Death Penalty Act.
http://www.aclu.org/DeathPenalty/DeathPenalty.cfm?ID=9960&c=67
Amnesty International
Founded
in London in 1961, Amnesty International is a Nobel Prize-winning
grassroots activist organization with over 1.8 million members
worldwide. Amnesty International undertakes research and action focused
on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and
mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom
from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all
human rights. One of their major campaigns is an effort to abolish the
death penalty. For more information, go to:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/index.do
Read
their article on the participation of religious and spiritual groups in
National Initiative to Focus Attention on the Death Penalty: http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/document.do?id=55C7D185C0B5B7D285256F35006D04C4
Death Penalty Information Center
The
Death Penalty Information Center is a non-profit organization serving
the media and the public with analysis and information on issues
concerning capital punishment. For more information, go to:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
Learn about the organizations committed to retaining the death penalty.
CJLF
The
Criminal Justice Legal Foundation was established in 1982 as a
nonprofit, public interest law organization dedicated to restoring a
balance between the rights of crime victims and the criminally accused.
The Foundation's purpose is to assure that people who are guilty of
committing crimes receive swift and certain punishment in an orderly
and thoroughly constitutional manner. For more information, go to:
http://www.cjlf.org/
NDAA
The
National District Attorney's Association supports the death penalty;
they offer resources reflecting their viewpoints on their website. Go
to:
http://www.ndaa.org/issues/death_penalty.html
NAPO
The
National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) is a coalition of
police unions and associations from across the United States that
serves to advance the interests of America's law enforcement officers
through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education.
For more information, go to:
http://www.napo.org/
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