In our Spring/Summer newsletter, we wrote about MVFHR's participation in a workshop, sponsored by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), on children of parents sentenced to death or executed. Now as an outgrowth of that workshop QUNO has published a report titled "Lightening the Load of the Parental Death Sentence on Children." You'll see references to MVFHR's work in that report, as well as, of course, a great deal of important analysis and recommendation.
You can download the report at QUNO's website. Just scroll down to "Recent QUNO Resources."
QUNO will be releasing this report in Madrid this week at the 5th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, a tremendous gathering of people from all over the world. Some of us from MVFHR will be there and we look forward to seeing our colleagues who will also be participating and also to meeting many new allies and friends.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Walk for Peace
MVFHR was represented today at the annual Mother's Day Walk for Peace that the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute has organized for 17 years. The LDB Peace Institute provides crucial support to families of homicide victims in the greater Boston area. Take a look at founder Tina Chery's page in MVFHR's Gallery of Victims' Stories.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Honoring Susan Herman
Susan Herman, author of the book Parallel Justice for Victims of Crime and long-time friend of MVFHR, was just honored with the National Crime Victims Service Award from the Department of Justice. Here is the department's press release, and here is the short video that was used at the awards ceremony to introduce Susan's work.
We interviewed Susan Herman for MVFHR's newsletter in 2009, and that interview is still available here, on page 4. Susan gets right to the heart of things with this question (from that interview), "While victims absolutely deserve a good and respectful experience within the criminal justice system, I think we need to go beyond that to ask, 'What do victims need, how can we as a society acknowledge that what happened to them was wrong, and how can we help them?'"
We interviewed Susan Herman for MVFHR's newsletter in 2009, and that interview is still available here, on page 4. Susan gets right to the heart of things with this question (from that interview), "While victims absolutely deserve a good and respectful experience within the criminal justice system, I think we need to go beyond that to ask, 'What do victims need, how can we as a society acknowledge that what happened to them was wrong, and how can we help them?'"
Friday, April 19, 2013
Spring newsletter is out!
We've just posted our Spring/Summer newsletter, with features on the United Nations Human Rights Council's consideration of children of parents sentenced to death or executed, an interview with Marilyn Armour about her recent research on victims and the ultimate penal sanction, Vicki Schieber's reflections on working for repeal in Maryland, and another powerful story about the impact of murder and mental illness within a family.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The impact on victims' families
Some of us from MVFHR were in Milwaukee this past weekend, at Marquette University Law School's conference on “The Death Penalty Versus Life Without Parole: Comparing the Healing Impact on Victims’ Families and the Community." Here, you can view Dr. Marilyn Armour's keynote address about her recent study about the impact of the penal sanctions life without parole and the death penalty on family members of murder victims, and here you can view the other conference panels. The panels with victims' family members are at the beginning.
Watch for our interview with Dr. Marilyn Armour in the spring issue of MVFHR's newsletter.
Watch for our interview with Dr. Marilyn Armour in the spring issue of MVFHR's newsletter.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Hopeful and scared
More from Maryland! Last week's Washington Post headline was "Murder victim's mother continues push for repeal of Maryland's death penalty":
Schieber has made a similar pitch dozens of times over the past decade in Annapolis, as part of a cadre of activists pushing unsuccessfully for repeal of the state’s death penalty. On Thursday, she will be back once more, offering testimony to a pair of legislative panels.
... “I’m both hopeful and scared,” Schieber said in an interview this week when asked about what could happen in the coming weeks, as lawmakers start voting on the legislation.
Schieber has made a similar pitch dozens of times over the past decade in Annapolis, as part of a cadre of activists pushing unsuccessfully for repeal of the state’s death penalty. On Thursday, she will be back once more, offering testimony to a pair of legislative panels.
... “I’m both hopeful and scared,” Schieber said in an interview this week when asked about what could happen in the coming weeks, as lawmakers start voting on the legislation.
Schieber has been effective over the years because she is not what lawmakers might expect from the family member of a murder victim, said Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery), who chairs the Senate committee that has jurisdiction over the legislation.
“When people meet Vicki, they meet a woman where the worst possible thing happened — she lost a child,” said Jane Henderson, the executive director of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions. “While Vicki would never say she speaks for all victims’ families, she makes a compelling case that goes to the heart of the matter.”
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Fighting for Their Lives
From MVFHR Project Director and Staff Writer Susannah Sheffer:
I'm delighted to announce the publication of my book Fighting for Their Lives: Inside the Experience of Capital Defense Attorneys. The book is about the emotional experience of lawyers who work at the end stage of capital defense and have lost clients to execution.
Law Professor Susan Bandes gives a glimpse of the book with this description: "This is a book I could have wished into existence. It offers a rare look at the emotionally rich questions surrounding capital defense lawyering, and its conversational format opens up a vein of insight that even memoir would not. Fascinating and entirely engaging!"
And Publishers Weekly says, "Sheffer takes readers beyond the courtroom and execution chambers to explore how capital defense attorneys cope when they can’t save a client. ... The book is unexpectedly moving, as when an inmate consoles an attorney who has run out of options, and the author is especially adept at uncovering the ethical and professional nuances of these cases. ... sobering and intimate ..."
The book is about law and the death penalty, but it's also about hope, failure, dignity, and all sorts of other matters that we might call psychological or just human questions.
I'm grateful to all who might take an interest in the book and help to spread the word about it. If you're moved to order a copy, you can do that through your local bookstore or through any of the usual channels. More information is here.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Speaking Out in Maryland
The Eldersburg Patch has this news video of supporters of repeal speaking in front of the Maryland State Capitol in Annapolis. MVFHR member Vicki Schieber talks about the murder of her daughter Shannon and why she opposes the death penalty.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Relatives oppose it
It's helpful when news headlines recognize that not all victims' family members support the death penalty -- like this recent headline on the mynorthwest.com news site, "Relatives of murder victims oppose death penalty":
Relatives of murder victims in Washington hope their voices carry some extra weight in the debate over the death penalty.
Retiring State Senator Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, was among a group of death penalty critics speaking out in Olympia Thursday. The six-term state lawmaker has a personal story to share.
"In 1980, my brother-in-law was murdered and his body was dumped in a park in Seattle," Regala told KIRO Radio. His killer was never prosecuted.
Still, she favors abolishing the death penalty. "We spend six to ten times as much money pursuing a death penalty as we would if we went for life without the possibility of parole," claimed Regala.
"When we look at the high cost, the staggering amount of money that gets spent on this, that money could be so much better used in giving police officers better tools to prevent crime, tools for helping solve some of these cold cases."
Other relatives of murder victims share Regala's viewpoint, including Karil Klingbill, the sister of Candy Hemmig, a bank teller murdered by Mitchell Rupe in Olympia in 1981.
Those who support the death penalty often cite closure for victims as an argument for keeping the law. But death penalty appeals can last for 10 years or longer.
"That prolonged process means that there is no closure for a long period of time and for many people, it re-opens the wound over and over and over again," Regala countered.
Washington is among 33 states, as well as the military and the federal government, that allow the death penalty.
Legislative opponents plan to re-introduce a measure in Olympia next session to abolish the death penalty and they are planning a rally on the steps of the Capitol building in January.
KIRO Radio host Dave Ross said he appreciates hearing from people like Regala. It's a different perspective that isn't always considered. It stops him from wanting to totally abolish the death penalty.
Dave says he knows it's hard for family members to relive the horror every time there's an appeal, but he suggests setting limits and not dragging out the process might be a solution.
One benefit of the death penalty is it gives prosecutors a bargaining chip. They cut a deal with the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, to avoid trial and he plead guilty. He would have been up for the death penalty, but those trials never happened and the victims got closure. He's not on death row, but in prison in Walla Walla for the rest of his life.
However, Regala doesn't believe it's appropriate to use it as a bargaining tool.
"We have people like Gary Ridgway who committed multiple multiple murders and they have life without the possibility of parole. And someone who committed one murder is on death row and may be executed."
Relatives of murder victims in Washington hope their voices carry some extra weight in the debate over the death penalty.
Retiring State Senator Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, was among a group of death penalty critics speaking out in Olympia Thursday. The six-term state lawmaker has a personal story to share.
"In 1980, my brother-in-law was murdered and his body was dumped in a park in Seattle," Regala told KIRO Radio. His killer was never prosecuted.
Still, she favors abolishing the death penalty. "We spend six to ten times as much money pursuing a death penalty as we would if we went for life without the possibility of parole," claimed Regala.
"When we look at the high cost, the staggering amount of money that gets spent on this, that money could be so much better used in giving police officers better tools to prevent crime, tools for helping solve some of these cold cases."
Other relatives of murder victims share Regala's viewpoint, including Karil Klingbill, the sister of Candy Hemmig, a bank teller murdered by Mitchell Rupe in Olympia in 1981.
Those who support the death penalty often cite closure for victims as an argument for keeping the law. But death penalty appeals can last for 10 years or longer.
"That prolonged process means that there is no closure for a long period of time and for many people, it re-opens the wound over and over and over again," Regala countered.
Washington is among 33 states, as well as the military and the federal government, that allow the death penalty.
Legislative opponents plan to re-introduce a measure in Olympia next session to abolish the death penalty and they are planning a rally on the steps of the Capitol building in January.
KIRO Radio host Dave Ross said he appreciates hearing from people like Regala. It's a different perspective that isn't always considered. It stops him from wanting to totally abolish the death penalty.
Dave says he knows it's hard for family members to relive the horror every time there's an appeal, but he suggests setting limits and not dragging out the process might be a solution.
One benefit of the death penalty is it gives prosecutors a bargaining chip. They cut a deal with the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, to avoid trial and he plead guilty. He would have been up for the death penalty, but those trials never happened and the victims got closure. He's not on death row, but in prison in Walla Walla for the rest of his life.
However, Regala doesn't believe it's appropriate to use it as a bargaining tool.
"We have people like Gary Ridgway who committed multiple multiple murders and they have life without the possibility of parole. And someone who committed one murder is on death row and may be executed."
Monday, December 10, 2012
64 years later, 8 years later
Today is International Human Rights Day marking the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDR) in 1948.
In her book The Death of Innocents, Sister Helen Prejean writes that initially there was some debate about whether abolition of the death penalty fell within the scope of the ideal that the Universal Declaration represented:
It was to be expected when Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was debated back in the 1940s that such a declaration, which granted everyone the right to life without qualification, would provoke debate, and one of the first proposed amendments was that an exception ought to be made in the case of criminals lawfully sentenced to death. Eleanor Roosevelt urged the committee to resist this amendment, arguing that their task was to draw up a truly universal charter of human rights toward which societies could strive. She foresaw a day when no government could kill its citizens for any reason.
We are, of course, still working toward that day, and although there is a great deal left to do, we can also appreciate that 64 years after Eleanor Roosevelt made her argument, the majority of the world's countries have abolished the death penalty.
Today is also the 8th anniversary of the founding of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights. Eight years ago, the founding group gathered at the UN Church Plaza in New York City, offered public testimony, and signed a document stating, "In the name of victims, we pledge to end the death penalty around the world."
In MVFHR's first public statement shortly thereafter, we said:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that sets forth the most basic principles regarding the value of human life and the way human beings ought to treat one another, was inspired by victims, demanded by victims. It grew out of the suffering of millions of civilians murdered under the brutal regimes of the Second World War, and its adoption on December 10, 1948 was a way to honor the loss of these lives, and an attempt to give meaning to the loss, by asserting that such violations are neither moral nor permissible under any nation or regime.
Now is the time to raise our voices again and insist that violations of human life in the form of the death penalty or other state killings are not permissible under any nation or regime. It is time to call for the abolition of the death penalty because the only way to uphold human rights is to uphold them in all cases, universally.
We believe that survivors of homicide victims have a recognized stake in the debate over how societies respond to murder and have the moral authority to call for a consistent human rights ethic as part of that response. Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights is the answer to that call.
Our deepest thanks today to all MVFHR's members and supporters who have helped answer that call and who have accomplished so much in these past eight years.
In her book The Death of Innocents, Sister Helen Prejean writes that initially there was some debate about whether abolition of the death penalty fell within the scope of the ideal that the Universal Declaration represented:
It was to be expected when Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was debated back in the 1940s that such a declaration, which granted everyone the right to life without qualification, would provoke debate, and one of the first proposed amendments was that an exception ought to be made in the case of criminals lawfully sentenced to death. Eleanor Roosevelt urged the committee to resist this amendment, arguing that their task was to draw up a truly universal charter of human rights toward which societies could strive. She foresaw a day when no government could kill its citizens for any reason.
We are, of course, still working toward that day, and although there is a great deal left to do, we can also appreciate that 64 years after Eleanor Roosevelt made her argument, the majority of the world's countries have abolished the death penalty.
Today is also the 8th anniversary of the founding of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights. Eight years ago, the founding group gathered at the UN Church Plaza in New York City, offered public testimony, and signed a document stating, "In the name of victims, we pledge to end the death penalty around the world."
In MVFHR's first public statement shortly thereafter, we said:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that sets forth the most basic principles regarding the value of human life and the way human beings ought to treat one another, was inspired by victims, demanded by victims. It grew out of the suffering of millions of civilians murdered under the brutal regimes of the Second World War, and its adoption on December 10, 1948 was a way to honor the loss of these lives, and an attempt to give meaning to the loss, by asserting that such violations are neither moral nor permissible under any nation or regime.
Now is the time to raise our voices again and insist that violations of human life in the form of the death penalty or other state killings are not permissible under any nation or regime. It is time to call for the abolition of the death penalty because the only way to uphold human rights is to uphold them in all cases, universally.
We believe that survivors of homicide victims have a recognized stake in the debate over how societies respond to murder and have the moral authority to call for a consistent human rights ethic as part of that response. Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights is the answer to that call.
Our deepest thanks today to all MVFHR's members and supporters who have helped answer that call and who have accomplished so much in these past eight years.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Cities for Life
MVFHR members are participating in "Cities for Life - Cities Against the Death Penalty" today, the international event organized each year by the Community of Sant'Egidio. Take a look at the link to see what's happening around the world, or check out this short video.
Monday, October 29, 2012
In Tokyo
Kate Lowenstein is representing MVFHR in Tokyo today at "No Justice Without Life: The Death Penalty in a Globalized World," a symposium organized by the Italian Community of Sant'Egidio. Here's a description:
The special aim of the Tokyo Symposium: how Japan may be closer to the rest of the World? The broad consensus on the issue found in Tokyo today shows that it is possible to begin to build bridges between the Japanese islands and the world. The same Justice Minister Makoto Taki, renamed by Prime Minister Noda, said three days ago in a Press Conference that Japan, on capital punishment, must come out of its isolation and begin to open to an international dimension.
The Conference, realized with the support of the European Commission and hosting the significant contribution of the Vice President of the European Parliament as well as the Ambassador of the European Union to Japan, brings together many of the major Japanese organizations, as Amnesty International, Bar Association, Forum 90, Center for Prisoners’ Rights, ADPAN, Japan Interreligious Network Against the Death Penalty, and others.
Including a truly broad range of witnesses and guests from Europe and the United States, Japanese representatives of institutions, of the world of politics, culture, the press, the arts, voices of the great world religious traditions – including the voice of Pope Benedict XVI – but also representatives of the new generations. In this context, the great composer and conductor Ken Ito will offer over his words also his music.
Today in Tokyo we will listen to a marvellous polyphonic choir, which will sing a hymn towards the future : No Justice Without Life!
The special aim of the Tokyo Symposium: how Japan may be closer to the rest of the World? The broad consensus on the issue found in Tokyo today shows that it is possible to begin to build bridges between the Japanese islands and the world. The same Justice Minister Makoto Taki, renamed by Prime Minister Noda, said three days ago in a Press Conference that Japan, on capital punishment, must come out of its isolation and begin to open to an international dimension.
The Conference, realized with the support of the European Commission and hosting the significant contribution of the Vice President of the European Parliament as well as the Ambassador of the European Union to Japan, brings together many of the major Japanese organizations, as Amnesty International, Bar Association, Forum 90, Center for Prisoners’ Rights, ADPAN, Japan Interreligious Network Against the Death Penalty, and others.
Including a truly broad range of witnesses and guests from Europe and the United States, Japanese representatives of institutions, of the world of politics, culture, the press, the arts, voices of the great world religious traditions – including the voice of Pope Benedict XVI – but also representatives of the new generations. In this context, the great composer and conductor Ken Ito will offer over his words also his music.
Today in Tokyo we will listen to a marvellous polyphonic choir, which will sing a hymn towards the future : No Justice Without Life!
Friday, October 26, 2012
Both sides grieve
MVFHR member Lois Robison, whose son Larry was executed in Texas and who has been active in our Prevention, Not Execution project, is quoted extensively in yesterday's story, "Wisconsin Spa Shooting Brings Back Painful Memories for the Moms of Mass Killers." MVFHR Executive Director Renny Cushing is quoted too:
News of Sunday’s shooting at a spa in Wisconsin brought back painful memories for Lois Robison, more than 1,000 miles away in Burleson, Texas.
News of Sunday’s shooting at a spa in Wisconsin brought back painful memories for Lois Robison, more than 1,000 miles away in Burleson, Texas.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
The Way Forward: Today at the UN
In conjunction with the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly, the Special Procedures Branch of the Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights will host a side-event this evening at the UN in New York, on the topic of "The Death Penalty and Human Rights: The Way Forward." We are honored that Renny Cushing has been asked to speak at this event, representing Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights.
The event features the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Mendez. Other speakers will be representing the World Organization Against Torture, Penal Reform International, Amnesty International, and the U.S. Program of Human Rights Watch.
The event features the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Mendez. Other speakers will be representing the World Organization Against Torture, Penal Reform International, Amnesty International, and the U.S. Program of Human Rights Watch.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
In Geneva
Friday, October 12, 2012
Speaking out in Oklahoma
From the Associated Press, 10/10/12, "Okla. church leaders, murder victim's daughter to join national effort, denounce death penalty":
OKLAHOMA CITY — The daughter of a slain Kansas Highway Patrol trooper will join church leaders from across the state as part of an anti-death penalty initiative in Oklahoma.
Neely Goen (GOH'-ehn) and members of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches will release a theological statement in opposition to the death penalty during the event Wednesday at the Oklahoma State Capitol.
Goen is an ordained minister from Wellston whose father, Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Conroy O'Brien, was gunned down on a Kansas turnpike east of Wichita in 1978. Goen is now an advocate for the abolishment of the death penalty.
Oklahoma has executed four inmates so far in 2012, and Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set execution dates for two other death row prisoners.
And from KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City, "A Murder Victim's Daughter Speaks Against the Death Penalty":
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- Opponents of capital punishment gather at the Capitol to observe the 10th World Day Against the Death Penalty.
"I am here today because I believe we need to abolish the death penalty in Oklahoma," said Bishop Michael Girlinghouse of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Neely Goen is the daughter of a slain Kansas Highway Patrol Officer Conroy O'Brien.
"There was some issues with dealing with the anger," said Goen.
Goen never knew her father. He was killed five months before she was born.
"I was a huge supporter of the death penalty until age 24 or 25 then God showed me this guy's life is worth just as much as mine," said Goen.
Goen says through her faith she came to forgive her father's killer and form a relationship with him.
"I want people to realize that everybody no matter right, no matter wrong, no matter whether they've cut you off in traffic or killed your brother, they're still a human being and all you're doing by taking them is causing more pain."
While Goen's perspective on the death penalty changed as she got older, she quickly learned not everyone would agree with her.
"I believe these people should pay the ultimate price in my opinion," said State Rep. Mike Sanders.
Rep. Sanders argues capital punishment serves as a deterrent. He also believes it holds people accountable for their actions.
Oklahoma has executed four inmates so far in 2012. Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set execution dates for two other death row prisoners.
OKLAHOMA CITY — The daughter of a slain Kansas Highway Patrol trooper will join church leaders from across the state as part of an anti-death penalty initiative in Oklahoma.
Neely Goen (GOH'-ehn) and members of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches will release a theological statement in opposition to the death penalty during the event Wednesday at the Oklahoma State Capitol.
Goen is an ordained minister from Wellston whose father, Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Conroy O'Brien, was gunned down on a Kansas turnpike east of Wichita in 1978. Goen is now an advocate for the abolishment of the death penalty.
Oklahoma has executed four inmates so far in 2012, and Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set execution dates for two other death row prisoners.
And from KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City, "A Murder Victim's Daughter Speaks Against the Death Penalty":
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- Opponents of capital punishment gather at the Capitol to observe the 10th World Day Against the Death Penalty.
"I am here today because I believe we need to abolish the death penalty in Oklahoma," said Bishop Michael Girlinghouse of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Neely Goen is the daughter of a slain Kansas Highway Patrol Officer Conroy O'Brien.
"There was some issues with dealing with the anger," said Goen.
Goen never knew her father. He was killed five months before she was born.
"I was a huge supporter of the death penalty until age 24 or 25 then God showed me this guy's life is worth just as much as mine," said Goen.
Goen says through her faith she came to forgive her father's killer and form a relationship with him.
"I want people to realize that everybody no matter right, no matter wrong, no matter whether they've cut you off in traffic or killed your brother, they're still a human being and all you're doing by taking them is causing more pain."
While Goen's perspective on the death penalty changed as she got older, she quickly learned not everyone would agree with her.
"I believe these people should pay the ultimate price in my opinion," said State Rep. Mike Sanders.
Rep. Sanders argues capital punishment serves as a deterrent. He also believes it holds people accountable for their actions.
Oklahoma has executed four inmates so far in 2012. Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set execution dates for two other death row prisoners.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
World Day Against the Death Penalty
Today is World Day Against the Death Penalty! This calendar of events gives a sense of what is happening today all across the globe and helps us all feel part of a worldwide effort to abolish the death penalty.
Renny Cushing is representing Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights on a panel discussion held today at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The event is organized by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the International Commission Against the Death Penalty. Here's the description:
In 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution on the moratorium on the death penalty, introduced by the European Union and a cross-regional group of countries. Since then, the resolution has enjoyed increasing support. However, challenges to achieving the universal moratorium and the ultimate abolition of the death sentence remain. The panel will gather activists from around the world to discuss and analyse, each from an unique perspective, the progress made over the past decade, and the remaining challenges in the worldwide campaign against the death penalty.
Renny Cushing is representing Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights on a panel discussion held today at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The event is organized by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the International Commission Against the Death Penalty. Here's the description:
In 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution on the moratorium on the death penalty, introduced by the European Union and a cross-regional group of countries. Since then, the resolution has enjoyed increasing support. However, challenges to achieving the universal moratorium and the ultimate abolition of the death sentence remain. The panel will gather activists from around the world to discuss and analyse, each from an unique perspective, the progress made over the past decade, and the remaining challenges in the worldwide campaign against the death penalty.
As always, MVFHR is honored to join with others in the international community who share our goal of abolishing the death penalty. We look forward to hearing, and sharing, more reports of the day.
Monday, October 8, 2012
International Roundtable
Today Renny Cushing is representing Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights at the Roundtable on the abolition of the death penalty, sponsored by the International Commission against the Death Penalty and held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid.
The roundtable, according to the description, "will review developments on the death penalty and identify legal and political challenges and opportunities for the coming five years." Renny, of course, will be talking about working with victims who oppose the death penalty. We'll post more information as we get it.
The roundtable, according to the description, "will review developments on the death penalty and identify legal and political challenges and opportunities for the coming five years." Renny, of course, will be talking about working with victims who oppose the death penalty. We'll post more information as we get it.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Those who have lost the most
From today's Huntsville (Alabama) Times:
Amy Bishop shot up a room of university colleagues because some of them voted against granting her tenure, prosecutors argued Monday, yet two years later the families of those same victims at the University of Alabama in Huntsville may have saved her life.
Amy Bishop shot up a room of university colleagues because some of them voted against granting her tenure, prosecutors argued Monday, yet two years later the families of those same victims at the University of Alabama in Huntsville may have saved her life.
Bishop was allowed to enter a guilty plea on Sept. 11 to capital murder and avoid the death penalty after Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard learned some of the victims' families strongly opposed capital punishment.
Broussard was asked following the trial why he didn't seek the death penalty anyway, given the severity of the crime.
"I think that would probably be the ultimate arrogance on my part," Broussard said. "But in deciding whether to seek the death penalty, there are lots of facets involved in that decision. Partly the defendant themselves and the severity of the crime. On those two fronts, the death penalty is certainly warranted in this case.
"But if you look at the folks who had the most at stake, who have lost the most, and victims' families, for me to disregard those feelings and forge ahead, I would be ashamed."
Day of Remembrance
Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights
Statement on National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims
September 25, 2012
Today is a National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims. It is a day to hold the victims of murder in our hearts and minds not as statistics but as distinct individuals, each unlike any other. It is a day to acknowledge each homicide as a singular, incomparable tragedy and to recognize that each homicide is a theft of a unique, irreplaceable, deeply loved human life, representing a world of devastation for the victim's surviving family and friends.
Today Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights joins with other victims' groups across the United States in honoring our loved ones' lives and renewing our commitment to working toward a better world.
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