NCADP is grateful for the support of Working Assets/CREDO as a 2009 grant recipient. Click here to learn more about Working Assets/CREDO and become a customer. Help us become a 2010 grant recipient by nominating us here.
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) was founded in 1976 in response to the Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Georgia which permitted executions to resume in the United States. Our mission:abolish the death penalty in the U.S. and support efforts to abolish the death penalty world wide.
Headquartered in Washington, DC, NCADP serves its network of over 100 state and national affiliates. NCADP provides them with technical assistance, training and strategic advice and assists in devising public policy campaigns to end, limit or repeal the death penalty, state by state. For advocates committed to ending the death penalty NCADP serves as a clearinghouse with contacts and information. NCADP produces reports, fact sheets and other public education materials for use in state campaigns. NCADP publishes Lifelines, Lifelines State and Execution Alert.
To support local efforts for policy change NCADP also mounts national campaigns on specific death penalty cases and issues.
Our Approach
“The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause is stronger than all the hosts of error.”
-William Jennings Bryan
We believe that the struggle against the death penalty will be won state by state when good people of all walks of life demand change. As the public comes to understand that the death penalty operates unfairly, harms the very people it purports to help and drains precious resources from solutions that prevent crime, hold people accountable and keep our communities safe, more will demand that policy makers support measures to narrow the scope and reach of the practice and ultimately repeal death penalty statutes.
NCADP assists our national and state affiliates by educating and reaching out to citizens around the country who want to see a criminal justice system that operates fairly and delivers on the results that are promised. Supporting these citizen activists in educating their peers and policy makers is a priority for NCADP.
What We Do
NCADP provides the following services to state affiliates and local activists:
Campaign strategy preparation and implementation
National and state specific reports on critical issues for policy makers
Media support
Networking and coalition building
Technical assistance and training for citizen volunteers
Annual Conference for local staff and volunteers
Annual Training for approximately 50 state affiliate staff and key volunteer leaders
NCADP also works at the national level building and coordinating coalitions
Recent Accomplishments
Ending the Death Penalty for Juveniles
NCADP played a pivotal role in ending the death penalty for juveniles in the United States. Building on its visionary “Stop Killing Kids Campaign,” NCADP staff worked with citizens in South Dakota and Wyoming to pass measures to ban the death penalty for crimes committed by those under the age of 18.
This victory added to the critical mass of evidence necessary for the Supreme Court to rule that the death penalty for juvenile offenders violated the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.
Fighting Reinstatement Efforts
When Wisconsin lawmakers rushed through legislation calling for a ballot initiative to revive the death penalty after more than 100 years, NCADP mounted a successful two-stage strategy aimed at holding down the popular vote and building political consensus against a death penalty statute.
With limited resources and a fraction of the budget devoted to similar efforts, local activists, supported by NCADP held the vote to 55% in favor, far short of the greater than 70% support registered at the beginning of the campaign. Proponents of restoring the death penalty were denied the landslide they had hoped for—and reinstatement efforts are stalled for the foreseeable future.
Diann on "Make it Plain" Recently, NCADP Executive Director Diann Rust-Tierney was a guest on a segment of Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s “Make It Plain” hosted by Mark Thompson (Matsimela Mapfumo), a political ... read full post - subscribe
The ACLU of Northern California has unveiled a new YouTube video taken from California's ongoing death penalty study commission hearings. The video tells the story of Aundre Herron, a former prosecutor who lost her older brother to murder in 1994. At first Herron wanted revenge; now she speaks out against the death penalty.
