About Us

Our Mission

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s mission is to abolish the death penalty in the United States and support efforts to abolish the death penalty worldwide.

Our Organizational Brochure

Our Vision

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty envisions a world with:

Neighborhoods that are safe because we identify and address the root causes of crime and violence.
Compassionate care for all victims of crime.
Accountability for offenders that is just and acknowledges the possibility of self-transformation, grace and redemption.
Dignity of all touched by the criminal justice system including those working in our judicial and prison systems.
Policies that are rational, based on empirical evidence and government accountability.

The continued existence and use of the death penalty undermines our ability to make that vision a reality. It divides us, distracts us and derails us from building that kind of society that respects and values all.

Who We Are

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is the nation's oldest organization dedicated exclusively to the abolition of the death penalty. It leads a national movement against the death penalty fueled by a broad-based national constituency and more than 100 Affiliate organizations.

We are families of murder victims, persons from all points on the political and religious spectrums, past and present law enforcement officials and prominent civil and racial justice organizations, who are working to repeal the death penalty state by state.

As seasoned professionals we use our collective experience in social and criminal justice issues to provide strategic political and legal analysis and leadership to the larger anti-death penalty movement as well as hands-on direct assistance to state Affiliates working to end the death penalty.

Our Goals

Through strategic planning, campaign development, and training services, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty enables every state to be effective, compelling advocates for change.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty seeks to build a diverse and powerful national constituency favoring death penalty repeal.

Our Accomplishments

Together with our state and national partners, we have won a string of victories for the death penalty abolition movement. Seven states in the past decade have said no to capital punishment. Today, 19 states and the District of the Columbia are death penalty-free, with significant momentum away from the death penalty in almost every other state where it is still on the books.

We have much work before us. Join us in the fight to eliminate the use of death as punishment, and to transform our society’s response to crime and violence.

Telegram to civil rights advocates calling for a national meeting following the Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Georgia in 1976 which reinstated the death penalty. This meeting led to the formation of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty which has been the leading national voice for death penalty abolition in the US ever since.