Victims Who Oppose the Death Penalty

Presentation of Renny Cushing at the 4th World Congress against the Death Penalty
Roundtable Violence, victims and death penalty : How to respond to violence and compensate victims without the death penalty (Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH) and Murder Victim’s Families for Human Rights (MVFHR))
Photo by Gilles Denizot

All over the world, there exists a common assumption that family members of murder victims will always want the death penalty for the person who killed their loved one. You hear it said that victims need justice, victims need healing, victims need closure, and the death penalty is the way to provide it. There are several things wrong with that assumption. Most victims reject the idea of “closure,” altogether, saying, as one mother put it, ‘there is no closure when a violent crime rips away the life of someone dear to you.” Furthermore, only a very small percentage of convicted murderers in the United States receive a death sentence. And a growing number of victims’ family members oppose the death penalty – for a variety of personal, political, and religious reasons. “The death penalty is not the way to honor our daughter’s life or her values,” says the mother of a murder victims. “The district attorney assured me that the execution of the man responsible for my daughter’s murder would help me heal,” says another mother, “and for many years I believed him. But now I know that having someone murdered by the government will not give me what I need.” “Survivors of murder victims would be much better served if the resources wasted on the death penalty were used to provide assistance for the victims and survivors of violence” says a third mother.

The Essential Role of Victims in the Death Penalty Debate

The assumption that family members of murder victims favor the death penalty, and that to be anti-death penalty is to be anti-victim, is common across national borders. We cannot expect to abolish the death penalty without challenging this assumption and offering an alternative view to lawmakers, journalists, researchers, and the general public. A lawmaker in the state of Montana was asked what most sways legislators to support abolition of the death penalty. He responded, “Number one would be murder victim family members who have stepped forward in opposition to the death penalty.” In the U.S., testimony from victims’ families has made a difference over and over again when state lawmakers debate abolishing capital punishment, and we are seeing a similar impact in Asian countries as well, as my colleague from Japan, Mr. Harada, will describe.

Amplifying Victims’ Voices: The Work of MVHFR

MVFHR is an international organization of victims’ family members who oppose the death penalty. Our members testify to lawmakers, speak to groups of students, victims’ advocates, attorneys, and a wide variety of other audiences, and contribute to educational materials that we work to distribute widely. We’ve created an online Gallery of Victims’ Stories, for example, with photos of victims’ families and their loved ones who were murdered, summaries of their story and their work against the death penalty, and statements from them about their reasons for opposing the death penalty. We work with victims to help them oppose the death penalty in specific situations. We work with our colleagues in the death penalty abolition movement to incorporate victims’ voices and perspective into their work. We help people who work with victims understand that not all victims support the death penalty. We bring victims’ voices to specific efforts, like the campaign to exempt people with severe mental illness from getting death sentences. In the work we do, we help victims speak out and spread the message that not all victims want the death penalty and that the debate about the death penalty has to include a discussion of victims and their needs.

Not just abolishing the death penalty: the importance of working for victims

At MVFHR, we know that every execution represents two human rights violations: the violation of the prisoner’s right to life and the violation of the life of the original murder victim. Abolition of the death penalty and meeting the needs of murder victims’ families, therefore, must always go hand in hand.

There are two human rights concepts that I think are important to understanding the victims’ perspective. One is the concept of impunity, which literally means “exemption from punishment or loss” and in human rights terms means a failure to hold accountable someone who has committed a human rights violation. I recommend giving this some further study, to see how this is handled in different societies. When someone you love is taken from you through an act of violence, you want to see the horror of that act recognized and addressed by the individual and by the society. This is why unsolved murders, for example, are a problem that deserves our attention. In my country, in the state of Colorado, a bill was introduced that would have abolished the death penalty and used the money to solve the many unsolved murder cases in that state. Many victims’ families came out to testify in support of that legislation. For them, finding out the truth about how their loved one came to be murdered, holding the right person accountable for that crime, was more important than the death penalty.

Another important human rights term is reparations. I’ll tell you a story from my own life to give an example of what I mean here.

A couple of weeks after my father was murdered, my mother got a bill from the ambulance corps in it. When she opened it, my mother said, “I can’t believe I have to pay for my husband’s murder.” The money wasn’t the issue; it was the idea that anyone would send a bill to a widow who had just seen her husband murdered in front of her eyes.

I realize that nobody purposely wanted to put that bill in the envelope and re-traumatize Marie Cushing two weeks after her husband was killed. It’s just that there wasn’t a full consciousness of victims’ needs or victims’ experience in the aftermath of murder and what impact specific actions or policies, or lack of policies, might have.

Some time afterward I testified in support of victims’ compensation legislation. I had come to meet other survivors of homicide victims and to understand what it was like for a mother whose baby was killed and who then couldn’t afford a funeral. Or what it’s like for families when the breadwinner has been murdered and as a result they lose their home or their healthcare. The idea of victims’ compensation is that for those who have suffered some material loss, there should be some kind of assistance. The state doesn’t blink at spending 2 million dollars to execute someone; would the state be willing to spend a tenth of that to meet the needs of victims?

Finally, an area in which we are working in the U.S., and that I think will be important elsewhere as well, is advocating for equal treatment of victims’ family members regardless of their position on the death penalty. We have documented instances of discrimination against victims’ family members who oppose the death penalty: they have been denied information about the court proceedings or denied the chance to speak (in a situation where another family member, who supported the death penalty, was given the opportunity to speak). I developed a piece of legislation called the Crime Victims Equality Act that prohibits discrimination against victims on the basis of the views on the death penalty. This legislation passed in New Hampshire last year and is now law; I am hoping that it can serve as a model for other jurisdictions.

4th World Congress:Final march from the CICG to the United Nations Square

Forgiveness vs revenge

by Kathy Brown - The Optimism Club

Sister Helen Prejean, Bill Pelke and Susan Sarandon

Bill Pelke pointed out that exonerees are not saved by the system, but in spite of it. He said the death penalty is cruel and it is unnecessary, not just to the condemned, but to their families as well.

‘As long has human beings make decisions, they will make mistakes,’ he said. ‘But people will listen to other people’s stories, it’s very compelling.’

Journey of Hope knows that if you can touch people’s hearts you can change their minds. So it is murder victims’ family members who lead the association, which also includes families of the condemned, of the executed, exonerees and general activists. They undertake speaking engagements and tours to reach out to communities, schools and other groups, to help them to understand that there are no number of retaliatory deaths that can replace a loved one. He quoted that the death penalty is nothing more than the ‘animal instinct for gut-level, bloodthirsty revenge.’

Bill and his colleagues believe that love and compassion is the answer. Healing is what victims need, not revenge. Bill himself lost his grandmother to murder… And knew that she would have been horrified to think her murderer would perish in turn. Forgiveness is what has helped Bill to heal.

Bill told us about his grandmother’s killer, Paula Cooper. She was only 15 in 1985 when the murder occurred, but this was prior to the introduction in the USA of legal prohibition of the execution of minors, and so she was sentenced to death. At first, Bill was glad, and wanted nothing more than to see his gentle grandmother’s killer executed; but then upon reflection he came to realise that his grandmother, a Bible teacher, would have wanted compassion. After her conviction, news of the young girl being condemned reached Italy, and a campaign was begun there to petition for Paula Cooper’s life. Bill could scarcely believe the strength of compassion coming from abroad, as in his home state of Indiana everyone wanted the girl dead, and as soon as possible. Ultimately, the state legislators were extremely embarrassed by the international attention and raised the age limit for death eligibility to 16; but no mercy for Paula. Eventually, with Bill speaking out at every turn to say he did not want the girl to be executed, the sentence was commuted to 60 years in prison.

In 2014 Paula Cooper will become eligible for parole. She committed her crime and was condemned at 15. Upon release she will be 44 and a completely different person. Bill has remained in close touch with her over the years, and knows she will need tremendous support and rehabilitation to re-enter the outside world.

‘On the day Paula is released, I will meet her at the gates,’ said Bill. ‘She has already agreed to come with me wherever I want to go. “You saved my life,” she tells me’.

Bill has plans to take Paula touring with him and Journey of Hope to continue telling their story of violence, hurt, lives lost and lives saved, and the reconciliation that has ultimately enriched and directed Bill’s own life.

So in conclusion, the theme of the session was to set the scene for an elaboration on a few of the reasons why the death penalty needs to be abolished, via a pair of extremely close-up and poignant perspectives.

1. The innocent man condemned, who escaped death, and has learned to forgive and completely turned his youthfully ignorant views on their head.

2. And the victim’s family member who not only forgave his grandmother’s killer, but was instrumental in saving her and is a role model for reconciliation and restoration.

The Journey of Hope on the final march of the World Congress against the Death Penalty

Whom do you recognize? I'm curious to find out if you know all of the faces... ;-)

US death penalty stance increasingly at odds with international community

Richard Dieter [Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center] at Jurist:

"The United States is often rightly seen as a world leader in human rights. But we have become increasingly isolated from the international community in one respect - our persistent use of the death penalty. The worldwide trend is clearly away from capital punishment. The United Nations, a recent World Congress in Geneva, and our allies in the European Union are all calling for an end to the death penalty. The US is not only among a dwindling minority of countries with an active death penalty, we are one of only a tiny handful of nations that actually carries out executions on a regular basis. Only in the Middle East and in some Asian countries are the number of executions comparable to those in the US every year. These are the same countries that the US frequently admonishes to improve their human rights record.

The US should not amend its law simply because other countries have done so. But our use of the death penalty is so far outside the stream of human rights that it is approaching the position of South Africa before apartheid was ended. The US was in the forefront of that movement, applying pressure and international sanctions until world opinion prevailed. The need for international cooperation is even more apparent than it was twenty years ago. We cannot and do not want to "go it alone" in areas of trade, resisting terrorism, or improving the environment, but we may become the last country standing with the death penalty.

The use of the death penalty is already declining in the US, reflecting the growing recognition that it is both too fallible and corruptible a system to meet the standards of justice in the twenty-first century. Death sentences, executions, the size of death row, and even the number of states with the death penalty have all dropped in the past few years. What we hold onto is a politically driven myth. Clearly, the death penalty in the US is not needed - the vast majority of murders, including many of the most heinous, are not punished with the death penalty. Police chiefs, leading criminologists, and the general public do not believe the death penalty serves as a deterrent to crime. It is kept in place because it is politically hard to get rid of, not because it serves any criminological purpose. It is time for a national dialogue on the death penalty, one that is open to what the rest of the world has to say."

Impressions from Geneveby Bill Pelke

I am still in Switzerland and leave in about 5 hours. It has been a very busy week, but a very fruitful one I believe.

I had dinner one night with the Germans, one night with Swiss, one night with murder victims family members so who could ask for anything more. You ask me to say a few words about the World Congress so first I would like to say that to me it was a real inspiration.

Not only am I pumped up and inspired, but it seems it is the same with everyone I have talked too. For the Journey of Hope it was a great success. It is time for the Journey of Hope to truly go international. Great contacts were made and strengthen. The attitude of the European community is wonderful, there are way ahead of the USA I talked with several Europeans who are well established in the Worldwide movement in different areas about the possibility of them becoming Journey board members.

I am excited that we might get some help for the Journey of Hope DVD Step By Step. We need to raise $5000 to the producers can pay off royalties. I think we can do it in Europe. I am also hoping that the next big tour we do will be here in Europe.

I'm excited because I got to spend time with Sister Helen, glad I got to spend a little time with the "Kids against the Death Penalty" and I am glad I got to spend some time with my friend Curtis McCarty and also other exonerees from death row like Ray Krone, Delbert Tibbs and Joachim Martinez. I roomed with Bill Babbitt. Bill is a wonderful man and good friend. We talked into the wee hours of the morning talking about many subjects including his brother Manny' execution. We talked about Paula Cooper, we talked about forgiveness and we talked about the Journey of Hope.

One highlight for me was meeting Jo Berry. What a powerful story of forgiveness. What a lady. To know that a member of the IRA planted the bomb that killed her father and then still to not only forgive but to reconcile and travel and speak with him. Very powerful healing kind of stuff.

It was great joy to see and spend a little time with Sandrine Ageorges. I was so happy she was able to be there. Her husband was supposed to be executed on the opening day of the conference, but thank God there was a stay and she was able to come. Sandrine has done more work from Europe to abolish the death penalty in America and worldwide as I know. Her husband Hank is still alive, but the state of Texas still wants to kill him in about a month.

It was a gigantic thrill at the Congress to meet facebook friends for the first time in person. Kim, Angela, Jasmine, Brunhilda and the list goes on. And of course the master of facebook in abolition, Gilles Denizot. Gilles Denizot is a name that will be well known in the movement in a short time. Gilles was very excited to meet Sister Helen and they both hit it off.

I had an opportunity to talk about the Journey of Hope and my personal story during a workshop. Joachim Martinez told his story of how he was sent to deathrow. Both our stories touched deeply into forgiveness. The next day I saw Sister Helen, walking with Steve Crimaldi and he had been telling her how powerful the session had been.

It was very nice to spend the last evening with the board and staff of the Murder Victims Families for Human Rights. I have been on that board since MVFHR was founded and about one year left to serve. Renny Cushing has taken the lead, inspired by the World Coalition in Montreal in 2004, founding MVFHR and taking it rapidly to a high visibility and force in the movement. It was great to see Renny and meet his daughter for the first time. Seeing Bud Welch in always a wonderful joy, bud is a firm believer in the power of the Journey. Marie, Kate, Susannah, Bob Curley, Toshi, Bill Babbitt, Jeanne Bishop, Priscilla. What a great group of people. And a special thank you to MVFR for providing my lodging, flight and food.

I got to hear some elegant talks, once again from Sister Helen, and others as the Prime Minister of Spain who wants to host the next congress in Spain, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and too many others to name.

I learned some things buy missed some sessions doing networking. The Journey of Hope had great support at the 4th World Congress. I am so glad I went.

Final Declaration 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty

We the participants at the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 24 to 26 February 2010 organized by the association Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM), with sponsorship from the Swiss Confederation in partnership with the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP),

adopt this declaration after three days of fruitful discussions, exchange of experiences, elaboration of relevant strategies, sharing of testimonies, including the commitment and strong support expressed from states and international institutions:

Noting with satisfaction the implementation of several recommendations made at the end of the 3rd World Congress in Paris in 2007; the increasing number of countries that have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights from 62 to 72; the resolution for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty passed twice by majority in the United Nations General Assembly with more than 100 hundred votes in favor; new regional coalitions against the death penalty which were created; the number of member organizations of the WCADP significantly increased to 104.

Noting also the urgent need to intensify our efforts in the courts, bar associations, the media, schools and universities, in human rights organizations, parliaments, governments, international and regional organizations to continue to encourage presently underrepresented retentionist countries in the international community, to be transparent in their practice of capital punishment, to reduce the number of crimes punishable by death in their criminal codes, so they can join the community of abolitionist states;

Highlighting the actions and the continued support of the European Union in the fight against the death penalty;

We welcome the initiatives and commitment of Switzerland, beyond the Congress, together with Spain, which aims to implement universal moratorium on executions in 2015, with a view of universal abolition;

We reconfirm that the death penalty may in no circumstances be regarded as an appropriate response to the violence and tensions which permeate through our societies, taking into account the emotional burden they create, particularly in the context of terrorism,

We call, from the host city of international organizations and a symbol of peace:

- The de facto abolitionist states to enact legislation abolishing the death penalty in law;

- The abolitionist states to integrate the issue of universal abolition in their international relations by making it a major focus of their international policy of promoting human rights;

- The international and regional organizations, to support the universal abolition of the death penalty including the adoption of resolutions calling for a moratorium on executions, by supporting educational activities, and increased cooperation with abolitionist NGOs that act locally;

- Abolitionist organizations and actors from retentionist states to unite their strength and determination in creating and developing national and regional coalitions, with the aim to promote locally, the universal abolition of capital punishment.

Geneva,
On February 26, 2010.

Death row lets victims' families down

Many families of murder victims do not want the perpetrators executed – but they do want more support from the state

Jessica Reed
guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 March 2010 16.00 GMT

Most debates about the criminal justice system and restorative justice are criticised for not focusing enough on the impact that violence has on victims and their families. Those objections multiply tenfold when the issue at hand is capital punishment: bring up the subject and many death penalty supporters will say that executions are the only way to meet survivors' needs for justice and closure, and that to oppose capital punishment is to be anti-victim. "What if it was your own son or mother?" they ask. "Wouldn't you want the perpetrator die at the hands of our justice system?"

As it turns out, the truth is rather different. During last week's fourth world congress against death penalty in Geneva, the voices of murder victims' families painted a picture seldom seen in the media. For a variety of reasons, a growing number of families do not support capital punishment. However, all families face decades of legal appeals over the execution of the perpetrator – a truly agonising wait for anyone seeking closure.

For some, such as the members of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, opposition to capital punishment is first and foremost ideological: in their mind, the response to one human rights violation should not be another one. Others, such as Vicki Schieber, resent the attention that inmates on death row receive. Schieber's daughter, Shannon, was murdered in Pennsylvania in 1998, and she fought the district attorney and prosecutors to keep the death penalty from being applied to her daughter's killer, poignantly writing that "one tragedy of the death penalty is that it turns society's perspective away from the victim and creates an outpouring of support for those who have perpetuated a crime. This is not the way to honour our daughter's life".

But beyond ideologies, participants in Geneva were particularly keen to accentuate how little support families receive after tragedies. Renny Cushing, whose father was murdered in 1988, spoke at length about the lack of resources available to victims. He told the harrowing story of a woman whose husband was killed. A few weeks later, she received a hefty bill for the cost of the ambulance which transported the body. She had, in effect, to pay for her family member's death.

Extraordinary funds are allocated to keep prisoners on death row at the taxpayer's expense: having someone on death row adds $90,000 per inmate per year to the normal cost of incarceration, which could be diverted to meet the murder victims' families most immediate needs. In California alone, $125m could be saved every year if death penalty sentences were switched to life without parole. And while psychological support and financial support for those suffering material loss should be key elements helping survivors to get on with their lives as efficiently and compassionately as possible, woefully inadequate funds are directly dedicated to compensation.

Similarly, law enforcement representatives John Van de Kamp, ex-district attorney of Los Angeles County and James Abbott, chief of police of West Orange, New Jersey, both agreed that death penalty costs were taking away from law enforcement resources which could be better spent on both crime prevention and forensic innovations. In the US alone, the increasing use of DNA-based evidence has been pivotal in proving the innocence of many of the 135 men and women who have been released from death row after having been wrongfully convicted since 1973.

The majority of speakers in Geneva agreed that if civil society wants to fight the feeling of abandonment faced by survivors of violence, the state should shoulder compensation when the perpetrator cannot do so. In that vein, pro-victim lawmaking is making progress: the ICC allowed the creation of a trust fund for victims and families of victims of crimes to allocate some form of reparation when the convicted person does not have sufficient assets to provide reparation. In the US, the Crime Victims Equality Act provides that crime victims shall be treated equally under the law regardless of their position on the death penalty, has been passed and legislature recently adopted an important new victim rights bills in New Hampshire, which will expand victims' compensation fund coverage.

There is little doubt that a greater emphasis on victim voices is needed, as retentionist countries have a vision of justice which does not always have the well-being of those who suffered in mind. But while the crimes penalised by capital punishment bring emotions which can't and shouldn't be erased, only adequate compensation, support and participation in legal proceedings can contribute to a true level of satisfaction and empowerment so that victims can move on as best as they can.

Speaking at the conference, the Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, called for a global moratorium on executions by 2015. Many of the campaigners present felt his message was overly optimistic but in the meantime, listening to survivors would be a good place to start.

Greg Wilhoit Update with Address

Hello, all. I wanted you to know that I saw Greg yesterday (Sunday) at the hospital. We had a good visit over 2 hrs. Greg is at a new hospital now. You can send him cards at the following address:

Mercy San Juan Medical Center
Greg Wilhoit, Rm. 8507
6501 Coyle Avenue
Carmichael, CA 95608

He could get moved, as is often the case, but for now that room number is correct. He is not able to accept phone calls at this point. His parents, Guy and Ida Mae, were there and his friend, Judy.

Greg was a lot better than when I was with him the week before. He could at least talk and was telling a good number of jokes and laughing at my (little) jokes. I read him the message from Ron Keine (and others). He appreciated it very much. He is still dealing with some severe problems so he continues to need your prayers and best wishes. His body sure has been through a lot since the accident last summer. Bill Babbit is back and will be there often, I know. Joy, his friend and assistant, has been seeing him often.

His family all knows how much this group cares about Greg and his well being. I told his mom that we did not want to invade the family 's privacy but that there was much concern. I'm just lucky I live near by enough to see him and pass on your love to him. The family is taking one day at a time. There are many doctors involved in his case. I was impressed with this hospital yesterday.

Greg is eager to get out there and speak again. I told him that he is needed because his voice was in this work was so important! We flipped through a photo album of the many appearances he's made with some pretty famous folks related to his case. It was clear how important his role in this movement has been to him and working along side people like you.

We'll try to keep you updated. Keep him in your prayers.

My best,

Lisa Rea

Spanish Prime Minister calls for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide by 2015

(UN Video)

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister, Spain:
My friends we have 5 years to achieve our goal -- to stop executions around the world: If we work together it is a goal within our reach.

Addressing the World Congress Against the Death Penalty meeting in Geneva today, the Prime Minister of Spain, whose country currently holds the presidency of the European Union, said it was unfortunate that today numerous countries still continue to apply the death penalty.

The two-day congress, organized by the French NGO Ensemble together with the Swiss government, and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, aimed to persuade more countries to sign up to a United Nations (UN) moratorium on the death penalty.

Referring to the death penalty as state sanctioned murder, Bianca Jagger, goodwill ambassador for the Council of Europe said she was shocked at the continued application of the death penalty in the United States (US), saying only when the US got its own house in order can it claim to stand for freedom and justice.

The Norwegian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gry Larsen, said the world was at a turning point with an ever growing shift towards abolition. 138 countries have outlawed the death penalty but it still exists in 58 countries, including the US and Japan.

The death penalty exists in 35 of the 51 states in the US said Elizabeth Zitrin, US representative of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Case by case defense lawyers had tried their best to defy the death penalty but that a universal moratorium was needed.

The World Congress Against the Death Penalty is a triennial opportunity to bring together abolitionist groups and strengthen the international dimension of the fight against the death penalty.

NC: Asheville marks Amnesty International's Death Penalty Awareness Week

Healing and Hope: This quilt, created by the families of murder victims and death-row inmates in WNC, stitches together the stories of individuals and families forever affected by acts of violence. The quilt, and other works by local artists, will be on display at the commemorative Execute Art Not People event. Image courtesy of Alexandra Cury of North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium


Asheville marks Amnesty International's Death Penalty Awareness Week:
Monday March 1st, The event will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at First Congregational United Church of Christ, located at 20 Oak St. It's free and open to the public. Info: 828 252-8729.

Execute Art Not People is an evening of poetry readings, presentations, performances, music and interactive art that will commemorate Amnesty International's Death Penalty Awareness Week. The gathering, slated for Monday, March 1, at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Asheville, has been organized to creatively oppose capital punishment while focusing community dialogue on this controversial issue.

The death penalty has been abolished in 15 states in the U.S., but capital punishment remains legal in the vast majority of states. In North Carolina, the Department of Corrections lists 159 offenders on death row, nine of whom hail from Buncombe County.

Amnesty International decries any form of punishment by execution, describing it as "the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights." Here in Asheville, Execute Art Not People is a meeting ground for individuals who believe similarly.

"From my experience working in the prison system, I am convinced that dealing with violence and murder through the death penalty keeps us from addressing the problem for both the victim and perpetrator," says Rev. Mark Siler, who works as a chaplain at a state prison in Marion coordinating Christian services for prisoners. "I think my 8-year-old daughter said it best when she asked, 'Why do we kill people for killing people?' The core ethical problem is that the death penalty perpetuates [the notion] that violence can be redemptive." At Execute Art Not People, Siler will discuss the role that music plays in the lives of the prisoners he works with and will close the event with a song.

Former N.C. death-row inmate Edward Chapman, whose charges were dismissed after he spent 14 years on death row in Central Prison in Raleigh, will also give a short address. Local landscape painter John Mac Kah will contribute a painting titled "Cold Mountain," which he describes as both "an iconic image and a metaphor for the [often] cold and relentlessness of humans."

Additional works by local artists Anna Jensen and Linda Richards, plus works by death-row inmate Wiley Dobbs of Georgia, will be on display alongside the "Quilt of Healing and Hope." Assembled by the families of murder victims and N.C. death-row inmates, each patch of the quilt represents an individual or family reflecting on an act of violence that transformed their lives.

Local poet and featured guest speaker DeWayne Barton says, "it is always good to talk about the complete society, and about the people that are forgotten about because they made mistakes." Execute Art Not People "reminds us about the people that are neglected by society" and the disparity between in sentencing between Caucasians versus people of color, he adds.

In addition, mediator and author of the book Grace Goes to Prison (Brethren Press, 2009) Melanie G. Snyder will discuss "restorative justice in a tough-on-crime world" and her work at the Pennsylvania state prison developing programs to promote accountability and nonviolence among inmates. Also, Asheville City Council member Cecil Bothwell will give a brief address.


This write-up is by Aiyanna Sezak-Blatt in Vol. 16 / Iss. 31 on 02/24/2010 of Asheville News Briefs: Xpress magazine

(More events in NC and around the nation to be announced soon)

URGENT NOTE from Gilles at the 4th World Congress Against the DP

ACT NOW!
Posted by Gilles D. Winterhuder at 3:22am We need ALL 65,128 current cause members to ACT NOW!

1) Hank Skinner case - Texas death row

Please SIGN the electronic letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles here

We need MANY more signatures! I know that your time is precious but this action will only take you 2 minutes and it is a matter of life and death.

2) "Abolish the Death Penalty" - Ideas for Change in America

I am giving a presentation today at the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Geneva, Switzerland. I will focus on my Idea for Change in America. Votes to be in the final round end in 13 hours. We need to be in the Top Ten to be invited to present this idea for change to the Obama Administration in Washington D.C.

Again, please take a minute of your time to VOTE

here

Change.org will ask you to register (name and email address) and to confirm your email in order to take your vote into account.

This idea is number 1 in Human Rights category. It means that the controversial topic of the death penalty in the USA is supported by many. We have a unique chance to be heard by the White House.

Let's grab this chance NOW!

Thank you all for your active support!

Gilles D. Winterhuder
Cause Admin

Abolish the Death Penalty By Gilles DENIZOT

Abolish the Death Penalty
By Gilles DENIZOT

The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state. This cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is done in the name of justice.

It violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In 2008, at least 2,390 people were executed in 25 countries around the world and 8,864 people were sentenced to death in 52 countries. Amnesty International reports that executions almost doubled in number from 1,252 in 2007. 95% of all known executions were carried out in only six countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Pakistan and Iraq.

In December 2007 and 2008 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted resolutions 62/149 and 63/168, calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The United States of America voted against.

The United States of America is slowly turning against capital punishment. Yet, 52 human beings have been executed in 2009. It needs to stop, on a federal level, and in all states where capital punishment is still in practice.

The death penalty:

- denies the possibility of rehabilitation and reconciliation.

- promotes simplistic responses to complex human problems, rather than pursuing explanations that could inform positive strategies.

- prolongs the suffering of the murder victim’s family, and extends that suffering to the loved ones of the condemned prisoner.

- diverts resources and energy that could be better used to work against violent crime and assist those affected by it.

- is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it. It is an affront to human dignity.

- should be abolished in the USA. Now.

Thank you all for voting! Scroll down to the post just below this if you haven't yet and be sure to go to Gilles blog or facebook to say hello and wish him a belated birthday!

Gilles DENIZOT

Be sure to go to his recent post DO UNTO OTHERS which says so much so passionately that we all need to hear frequently...I would not do it justice to pull out any part of it and I want you to see this post set into his admirable and humble yet brilliant website. Gilles is someone I want to meet someday and get him to autograph a piece of music for which he's been singer and/or director! You can also vote on his blogsite - send it out - and or send out and vote on the twitter URL Abe just sent...scroll to the post just below...

DO UNTO OTHERS posted by Gilles here

Gilles Blogsite: here

For more from Gilles and Abe and from Bill on the 4th World Congress...plz scroll below.

Less than 200 votes needed! Plz get out the word...

Abraham J. Bonowitz and GILLES DENIZOT remind us: LESS THAN 200 VOTES NEEDED for "Abolish the Death Penalty" to be in the TOP TEN!

PLZ get out the word: here

Gilles D. Winterhuder says: Guess what... I'm doing a presentation of my Idea for Change during the World Congress! I'm not just going to the swimming pool, I'm diving right in it ;-) Let's all give him a winning report to take to the Congress with him, OK? Scroll below for more on the Congress and Bill Pelke's participation.

Just send around this URL to everyone you can think of who may sign no and a few more - slow (E) mail :) or Facebook Twitter Phone...what else is there?

I believe Gilles just had a birthday....please go to facebook and wish him a grand birthday AFTER GLOW and get out the word to your friends about this voting needed, will you?

Thanx for tuning in...

Scroll to Greg for an update on his condition!

Maybe God does answer prayers :) from Bill -- Go read more from Bill and others on Greg's improving condition - just below the 4th Congress and the reminder to do what you can to STOP execution of Hank (if you haven't plz do that on your way down to Greg.)

4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty

A message by Bill Pelke:

In less than 24 hours I will be headed to Geneva, Switzerland for the 4th World Congress to Abolish the Death Penalty. I was present in Rome Italy when the World Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty was founded on May 13, 2002

The second World Congress was held in Montreal in 2004 and Paris in 2007. It was an honor an pleasure to participate in those two events. The Journey of Hope banner led the march in Montreal at the conclusion of the Congress.

This year in Geneva I will be participating in a workshop called "How to work with public opinion".

I am very excited about the Congress this year. As many as 1700 participants are expected and I will be seeing many people I know involved in the world wide abolition effort.

The follow is an article of the 4th World Congress..

Peace, Bill

Founding of the World Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

4th World Congress Seeks to Abolish Death Penalty
Friday 19 February 2010
by: Mary Susan Littlepage, t r u t h o u t | Report

More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty February 24-26 in Geneva. The Congress is organized by the French NGO Ensemple in partnership with the Swiss Confederation and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

During the 3rd World Congress Against the Death Penalty, held in Paris in 2007, Micheline Calmy-Rey, federal councillor and head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, invited the event's organizer to hold this year's Congress in Geneva. Abolition of capital punishment is a foreign policy priority in Switzerland, and Switzerland is co-funding half of the Congress's budget.
Arnaud Gaillard, coordinator of the 4th World Congress, said the conference wants to welcome different countries and aims to build strategies to help them abolish the death penalty.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty was created in Rome in 2002. It's composed of 104 bar associations, cities, local groups, unions and the like. It is actively supported by the European Union, and it aims to strengthen the international dimension of the fight against the death penalty.

Gaillard said the death penalty often is a European debate, but that he would like to see the topic discussed and debated among other countries as well.

In addition, Gaillard said he would like to see NGOs (non-governmental organizations associated with the United Nations) and IGOs (international government organizations) collaborate rather than work independently. "We want to gather all the strength together of these organizations to work together and to abolish the death penalty," he said.

It is a challenge to get countries to ratify the second protocol, he said. The second protocol is an international treaty that links to international government, is signed by many countries and calls for a moratorium on the death penalty. Every two years it is voted on, and it will be voted on in December this year. " We want more and more countries to vote for the moratorium," he said. "One of the main strategies is to help the other countries to create the debate in their own countries, own societies to help them create debate for the abolition [of the death penalty]."

Talking about the death penalty debate in the United States, he said, "We know we are on this road [toward abolishment of the death penalty], but we want to explain to the United States that the death penalty isn't something that belongs to justice," Gaillard said. "It belongs to violence, something like barbarism, and we want to explain over the world that we can't be a democracy and go further in the civilization process because the death penalty is something that belongs to the past."

Many key figures have already confirmed their presence at the conference: José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, head of Spanish government; Navanethem Pillay, UN high commissioner for human rights; Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico; Renate Wohlwend, rapporteur of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on the Death Penalty, and Ibrahim Najjar, Lebanese minister of justice.

The conference will feature two plenary sessions, ten roundtables and nine workshops. A cultural program aimed at the general public will also be organized in parallel at the International Conference Centre in Geneva and within the city,, which is the world capital of human rights and home to a number of international organizations.

The World Congress Against the Death Penalty is a triennial opportunity to bring together abolitionist groups and strengthen the international dimension of the fight against the death penalty. More specifically, the Fourth Congress will pursue the following goals:

• To strengthen ties between civil society, international and intergovernmental institutions and organizations as well as national and local entities in support of the abolitionist movement.

• To involve players of retentionist states, which are territories that retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes, from so-called Southern regions in the defining and leading of abolitionist strategies.

• To increase the political, diplomatic, religious, social and cultural impact on retentionist states.

• To enlarge the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and to encourage the building of national and regional coalitions.

Roundtables will cover many topics, including:

• Racial, ethnic and social bias in the death penalty implementation: Are political and social commitments to equality effective tools for abolition?

• Protecting vulnerable groups from the death penalty, such as juveniles and those with mental health issues.

• Violence, victims and the death penalty: how to respond to violence and compensate victims without the death penalty.

• Approaching law enforcement issues without the death penalty.

• Tools and strategies for death penalty abolition in the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, from moratorium to abolition in law.

• Access to a competent counsel in capital cases: how lawyers can make the difference between life and death.

• The Caribbean: the continued danger of escalating executions.

In addition, the conference will feature "Words of Victims," an evening during which former Death Row inmates and families of victims of crime and execution witnesses tell their stories. This series of stories will be accompanied by interludes animated by the Franco-British singer Emily Loizeau. Also, "The Omega Suites," a photo exhibit of Lucinda Devlin referring to the process of killing in the United States, will be featured. Film and documentaries screenings on the death penalty issue from several countries will be showcased as well to offer a panel of death penalty cases at different periods, from different cultural, religious and political backgrounds.

According to the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, in 2008, ninety percent of recorded executions took place in five countries:

• Saudi Arabia - at least 102 people, including 39 foreigners.
• China - 1,700 executions according to the Amnesty International record and 6,000 according to the Dhui Hua Foundation.
• The United States - 37 executions, including 18 in Texas.
• Iran - 346 people executed, including eight who were under 18 when they allegedly committed their crimes.
• Pakistan - at least 36 executions.

In 58 countries, the law still provides for capital punishment. Although democracies such as the United States and Japan still execute people, the majority of the death sentences are carried out by authoritarian governments. Geographically speaking, executions mostly take place in Asian and Arabic countries and also in some parts of the Caribbean.

Texas: Please Don't Execute an Innocent Man

STILL COLLECTING SIGNATURES - MORE NEEDED - PLZ HELP: here

Bill Pelke on WFLT-AM Morning News Yesterday

Sent from a friend of The Journey of Hope on Thursday, February 18, 2010 7:12 AM

Good morning,

Yesterday, the day after Martin Grossman’s execution in Florida, Bill Pelke was a guest on a segment of the “ 850 Morning News” with Russ Morley on WFLT-AM, a 50,000 watt conservative radio station which broadcasts to West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. To hear the interview, go to here, the station’s news home page. Then click on the box that reads “Audio” which will drop down a number of options. Click on the option which reads “WFTL 850 Morning News” and it will redirect you to the program’s audio player. Once there, click on the link which reads “15. 10-02-17 Abolish the Death Penalty Bill Pelke.”

Thank you again Bill for getting up extremely early yesterday morning on Alaska time to be interviewed at 8:12 a.m. Eastern Time in order to represent NCADP and share your particular perspective on capital punishment.

Sincerely,

Margaret

UPDATE: Pray for Greg Wilhoit (part of the Journey of Hope Family)

GREAT UPDATE on Greg (posted Sunday Feb 21st)

Rather than put this as a comment I felt it deserved here on top...this just in from Bill Pelke, right before he leaves for Europe:
Maybe God does answer prayers :)

Reports of Greg Wilhoit's improved condition are being called a miracle. Keep those prayers coming.

Bill Babbitt reports that Greg Wilhoit surely has blue eyes. What a joy it has been for Bill to see Greg open his eyes for a bit on Friday and then even wide open this morning. Bill is very encouraged with the improvement he has seen in the last few days, a relief for him as he prepares to go to the 4th World Congress in Geneva, Switzerland.

Lisa Rea visited with Greg on Thursday talked with Joy, the housemate of Greg who has been helping take care of Greg since his bike accident. She gave this report today to Lisa, "the tube is out, he's awake and trying to talk (unintelligible so far), able to respond to yes/no questions, producing urine (fantastic!). This AM, doctor said he's a miracle. Still a long way to go, but these are positive signs. His mom, dad, sisters are all here now."

Lisa also says it is a miracle.

Miracle or not, Greg still needs our prayers, he is not out of the woods yet. Keep him in our prayers.

I believe in miracles, I believe in God.

Peace,

Bill
===============================================
Our Lovable and extremely gifted brother, Greg Wilhoit, who is a death row exoneree, needs vigilent and daily - if not hourly prayer. He is in intensive care in a coma. Journey member Bill Babbit has been at his side and says Greg is getting excellent care from the hospital staff...more to follow. Perhaps you'd like to send him a message in the Comments section below and we can show Greg how much love is coming his way when he wakes up? And/or leave a message to encourage Bill Babbit and Greg's other friends and family members.

We hope to have more on HANK soon...see post just below...we MUST pull together and not let up and allow Hank go be killed by the State...

Help STOP Execution of Hank Skinner (scheduled for Feb. 24!)

Plz also note below also all the JOURNEY folk who plan to be at the Alternative Spring Break in Texas!


HELP STOP IT!

Please scroll down to take action to help stop the execution of Hank Skinner, scheduled for February 24, 2010 in Texas. Read the article below for more information on Hank's case. Don't let Hank become the next Todd Willingham, an innocent person executed in Texas. Suggested ACTION doesn't take long at all-GO
here

Also, take a moment to vote for the Abolish the Death Penalty as an Idea for Change in America at Change.org. (You will have to register at Change.org to vote.)
here

If the idea becomes one of the top ten, Change.org will host an event in Washington, DC, where each of the 10 ideas will be presented to representatives of the media, the nonprofit community, and to relevant officials in the Obama Administration. After the announcement, Change.org will mobilize the full resources of their staff, their 1 million community members, and their extended network of bloggers to support a series of grassroots campaigns to turn each idea into reality.

Finally, if you want to spend four days learning about the death penalty and training to take action, register for the Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break, March 15-19, 2010 in Austin, Texas. It is designed for high school and college students, but all the workshops and events are open to the public of all ages. We have arranged many interesting speakers, including four innocent, exonerated former death row prisoners, Curtis McCarty, Ron Keine, Shujaa Graham and Perry Cobb, as well as the national director of Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project, Bill Pelke of Journey of Hope, Susannah Sheffer of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights and Brian Evans from the Washington D.C. office of Amnesty International.

If anyone is interested, you can register at the website GO HERE

Actions for Hank Skinner:

here (Sign and send this online petition/email to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.)

Write, call, fax or email your own letter to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Texas Governor Rick Perry. Urge them to stay the execution to allow testing of DNA. In the subject line of your emails or in any letters to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, write "Attention Case of Hank Skinner #999143".

Hank Skinner is scheduled to be executed in Texas on February 24 for three murders he maintains he didn't commit. Several key pieces of biological evidence from the crime scene have not been tested. DNA testing could prove Skinner's innocence or confirm his guilt, but prosecutors are opposing Skinner's appeals and seeking to execute him. There are several pieces of probative biological evidence from the crime scene that haven't been tested. Among this untested evidence are hairs from one victim's hand, a rape kit, fingernail clippings and a windbreaker that could have been worn by an alternate suspect. It is crucial that this testing be conducted before Texas carries out a sentence it can't reverse.

DNA testing can prove the truth. It is not a delay tactic or a diversion -- it has the potential to confirm Skinner's guilt or prove him innocent and you would be making a grave mistake to allow Skinner to executed without first conducting DNA tests.

Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428
Fax: 512-463-1849
Main number: 512-463-2000

Clemency Section
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
8610 Shoal Creek Blvd.
Austin, TX 78757-6814
Fax (512) 467-0945
bpp-pio@tdcj.state.tx.us


CLOCK TICKS

Will Texas Soon Execute Another Innocent Man? Our Reporting Challenges Verdict As Clock Ticks

THE LATEST: Condemned Man's Lawyers Appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court

By David Protess

February 12, 2010

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is under fire for allegedly obstructing an investigation into the wrongful execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was put to death in 2004 -- despite forensic tests proving he did not murder his three young children.

Four years earlier, Gary Graham was carried to Texas’ death chamber defiantly proclaiming his innocence in the face of new evidence that even the murder victim’s widow called “reasonable doubt.”

Investigative stories have revealed that Ruben Cantu in 1989 and Carlos DeLuna in 1993 likely suffered the same unjust fate at the hands of Texas executioners.

Now the clock is ticking on another Texas death row inmate who has steadfastly maintained his innocence – with credible evidence to support his claim. The condemned man is Henry Watkins “Hank” Skinner, and much of that evidence was unearthed by the Medill Innocence Project and reported in the January 28 and 29 editions of the Texas Tribune, "Case Open" and "Case Open: The Investigation". Yet, Skinner faces death by lethal injection on February 24, less than two weeks from now.

Texas continues to lead the nation in executions. But will the state earn the dubious distinction of executing five innocents in two decades? Hank Skinner’s fate lies in the hands of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Gov. Perry and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Here is a synopsis of the case, spotlighting the evidence developed by Medill student-journalists who traveled to Texas’ death row and to the crime scene in search of the truth. For a more detailed account, read my testimony to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and today's appeal by Skinner's lawyers to the Supreme Court.

I will continue to report about the Skinner case on this site until it reaches finality.

Hank Skinner, January 20, 2010
Caleb Bryant Miller, The Texas Tribune

Hank Skinner, age 47, was convicted of bludgeoning to death his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and fatally stabbing her two adult sons in their Pampa, Texas home on New Year's Eve of 1993. Skinner was convicted of the crimes in 1994 and sentenced to death in 1995. He is scheduled to be executed on February 24.

The state's case against Skinner was entirely circumstantial. He has consistently professed his innocence, there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder weapons and no eyewitness or apparent motive for the crime. Skinner indisputably was in the home at the time of the murders, but claims he had passed out from mixing large quantities of alcohol and codeine. When he awoke, he stumbled to a neighbor’s residence to report the murders, according to Skinner.

But the neighbor, Andrea Reed, testified that Skinner made incriminating statements about the crime and ordered her not to call the police. That was enough for the jury to find him guilty, and, although Skinner had no history of violence that would remotely explain the horrific murders (his worst offense was a conviction for assault), he was sentenced to death.

Our investigation

The Medill Innocence Project first became involved in the case in the fall of 1999 when a reporter at the Associated Press in Houston raised questions about Skinner’s guilt. Eight investigative reporting students made two trips to the Panhandle town in 1999-2000 to interview sources and plow through documents. They returned with grave reservations about whether justice had been done.

For one thing, Andrea Reed, the state’s star witness, recanted her trial testimony in an audio-taped interview. Reed told the student-journalists that she had been intimidated by the authorities into concocting a false story against Skinner. “I did not then and do not now feel like he was physically capable of hurting anybody,” Reed said.

For another, toxicology tests on Skinner's blood and statements by experts revealed he would have been nearly comatose on the night of the crimes, certainly lacking the strength, balance and agility to commit the triple homicide. This finding is consistent with Reed’s observation of Skinner when he entered her home after the crime: “He was falling into the walls and stuff. He was staggering, falling into stuff,” she said in the taped interview.

Other residents of Pampa told the student-journalists in videotaped interviews that the more likely perpetrator was Robert Donnell, Twila's uncle. Donnell had been “hitting on” his niece at a New Year’s Eve party shortly before the slayings. Rebuffing his advances, she left the party frightened, her uncle following behind, according to the witnesses. (A close friend of Twila’s said she confided to being raped by her uncle in the past.)

The day after the crime, another witness claimed to have seen Donnell scrubbing the interior of his pick-up truck, removing the rubber floorboards and replacing the carpeting. Perhaps most telling, a windbreaker just like the one the uncle often wore was found at the scene – directly next to his niece’s body. The jacket was covered with human hairs and sweat.

Yet evidence from the windbreaker has never been scientifically tested. Moreover, prosecutors have steadfastly opposed DNA tests on two blood-stained knives, skin cells found underneath Twila’s fingernails, vaginal swabs and hairs removed from her hand – even though forensic tests on one of the hairs proved it did not come from Skinner. (The physical evidence remains sealed, but the courts have acceded to prosecutors’ demands not to conduct the tests.) In a death row interview with the student-journalists, Skinner said he was innocent and welcomed new tests on the old evidence.

"They have no right to kill me because I'm innocent, innocent, innocent."
Hank Skinner to the Texas Tribune, January 28, 2010.

Another troubling aspect of the case is the background of Skinner's trial lawyer, Harold Lee Comer. Formerly the District Attorney of Gray County, Comer had prosecuted Skinner for two offenses, theft and assault. After resigning from office and pleading guilty in a drug scandal, Comer was appointed at taxpayer's expense to represent Skinner at his capital murder trial -- without the required hearing to determine whether he had a conflict-of-interest.

The trial judge, a personal friend of Comer's, paid him roughly the same amount to represent Skinner as the former DA owed to the IRS. Comer failed to request DNA testing, or present compelling evidence about the alternative suspect. And, at the sentencing hearing, he failed to object to using Skinner's prior convictions -- which he had prosecuted -- to justify the death penalty.

When the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the claim that Skinner had been ineffectively represented by Comer, a Texas court set his execution date. In light of the cases of Cameron Todd Willingham, Gary Graham, Ruben Cantu and Carlos DeLuna, the specter of wrongful executions now hangs over Texas' system of capital punishment.

Will Texas next put to death a man who has steadfastly professed his innocence and whose lawyer was his legal adversary -- without even conducting DNA tests to be sure the right man will be punished for the crime?

Not much time will tell.

ACT NOW PLEASE:

Register Now for the 2010 Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break March 15-19

here