Documentary Film for Fostering Advocacy
Starting with documentary film, The Penalty, NCADP has kicked off its three month campaign of using documentary film to cultivate sustainable advocacy across our network of abolition advocates. We will be using our monthly webinar, Justice Powered By Information, as the platform for this series. Read More
Interview with Filmmaker Will Francome
This month the NCADP talked to documentary filmmaker Will Francome. Will directs his films in conjunction with the British independent production company Reel Nice. A London native, His films have tended to focus on the criminal justice system in the United States. Together with Marc Evans, Francome wrote the film In Prison My Whole Life, a profile of political activist and former Mumia Abu-Jamal. The former Black Panther spent nearly thirty years on death row until his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2011. Francome then directed the TV-movie Life After Guantanamo, a flick that reported on the lives of former prisoners of the controversial offshore prison. Read More
Oklahoma Use of Nitrogen for Execution
NCADP updates the state of lethal execution in the United States. The last update focused on the use of Fentanyl for lethal injection, the lack of scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of fentanyl in relieving pain, the advocacy of the Pharmaceutical Industry, and the risk for agonizing executions. Recent news of failed executions attributed to drug effectiveness and increased political pressure on Correctional institutions all over the country has led to another potentially dangerous innovation for capital punishment. The advocacy on behalf of the Pharmaceutical Industry to halt the use of drugs for execution on moral grounds has led states to search for alternative measures. Oklahoma proposes using nitrogen for all upcoming executions. Read More
NCADP March Webinar - The Root of the Problem
In March, NCADP had the pleasure to host David Harris and Andrea James at our March Webinar. Both innovators in social justice and reformers of our criminal justice system discussed how to confront the roots of our unsustainable criminal justice system. David emphasized the case for community justice, the necessity of community political capital, and the distribution of resources across systems, like education. His scholarship reframes criminal justice to focusing on healing and justice for communities. Andrea, the Founder and Executive Director of the National Council For Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls and the Families for Justice as Healing, provided an application of theory to practice, describing the community work she practices daily. Read More
The Execution of the Terminally Ill
The execution of terminally ill inmates reveals the true purpose of capital punishment - retribution. With chronic illness plaguing inmates across the U.S., partly due to restrictions in medical services, and extensive state appeal processes, inmate are aging and increasingly legal leaders and advocate are confronted with the question — is it humane to execute a terminally ill inmate? Read More
Washington State Bill SB 6052 Introduced to Abolish Death Penalty
Washington State is joining the national fight to abolish the death penalty. Senate bill 6052 was introduced to abolish death penalty for aggravated first degree murder, instead sentencing individuals to life without the possibility of release. This is apart of the states initiative reduce financial and social expenses associated with the death penalty. Read More
The Risk of Fentanyl Use—Untested Executions and Pharmaceutical Restrictions
Across the United States, states utilizing lethal injection as a mode for capital punishment have confronted drug shortages. Solving this problem has led states to adopt untested drug combinations. Criticism spanning from the pharmaceutical sector, to the legal sector, has argued that untested drug cocktails increase the likelihood for inefficient sedation and increased pain, constituting cruel and unusual punishment. Read More
VIP Briefing for Activists on the Death Penalty Information Centers Year-End Report
First in a series of webinars sponsored by NCADP in its Justice Powered by Information (JPI) series. Read More
Death Penalty Abolitionists Gather in Washington DC for Annual Awards
Washington, DC: The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will recognize those who have had a major impact in shifting the momentum away from capital punishment. Read More
Lush Cosmetics Partners With the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Lush's Death ≠ Justice campaign is designed to highlight failings within the capital punishment system by engaging customers in death penalty abolition efforts, releasing the documentary "Exonerated," and raising funds for three organizations attempting to halt executions once and for all. Read More
Statement of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in Response to New Poll
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty welcomes the results of a new Pew Research Center poll indicating that opposition to capital punishment has increased significantly. Read More
90 Million Strong Campaign Endorses the Proposition 62 and Retain a Just Nebraska Campaigns
90 Million Strong Campaign endorses the Retain a Just Nebraska Campaign and the Justice That Works Campaign Read More
Killing People Because They Killed People to Show That Killing People Is Wrong’ Makes Sense, Right?
Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong? It is a question that has no sensible response. Read More
Rauf v. Delaware - Delaware Supreme Court rules death penalty statute unconstitutional
The Delaware Supreme Court ruled the state’s current death penalty scheme was unconstitutional. Read More
LegalWatch: U.S. Supreme Court Ends 2015-2016 Term, Decided Important Death Penalty Issues
The U.S. Supreme Court is wrapping up its 2015-2016 term this week. Starting all the way back at the beginning of last October, the Court decided two particularly noteworthy death penalty-related cases this term, and agreed to hear a third during its 2016-2017 term. Read More
The Annual Fast & Vigil in Washington, DC June 29th - July 2nd
For these four days, death penalty abolitionists from around the country will gather at the steps of the Supreme Court to call for an end to capital punishment in the United States. Read More
U.S. Supreme Court Grants Review in Buck v. Stephens
On, Monday, June 6, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it would review the case of Buck v. Stephens—a case involving Duane Buck, a Texas man who was sentenced to death after his own lawyer inexplicably introduced an expert who testified that he would pose a future danger to society if only sentenced to life imprisonment (and the fact that he was black only increased that likelihood). Read More