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Resources to End the Death Penalty
Updated: January 2000
Below is a list of ideas and resources to assist you as you work to abolish the death penalty in the United States:
- Study:
- Discover Catholic teaching on the death penalty:
- Learn about the death penalty:
- The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies. Hugo Adam Bedau, Ed. Oxford University Press, New York, 1997
- The Death Penalty: An Historical and Theological Survey. James J. Megivern. Paulist Press, Mahwah, New Jersey, 1997.
- The Death Penalty Information Center, 1320 18th St., NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036, 202-293-6970, www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.
- Teach:
- The Death Penalty Information Center now provides curricula for learning about the death penalty. Appropriate for high school students and young adults, but adaptable for parish use, too. Go to: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/Curriculum.shtmll
- Join:
- Catholics Against Capital Punishment, P.O. Box 5706, Bethesda, MD, 20824, phone/fax: 301-652-1125, www.igc.org/cacp/.
- Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Project, c/o American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102-1479, 215-241-7130, E-Mail: patclark@afsc.org, www.deathpenaltyreligious.org.
- Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, 177 U.S. Hwy #1, B-297, Tequesta, FL 33469, (800) 973-6548, www.cuadp.org.
- National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, 1436 U Street, NW, Suite 104, Washington, DC 20009, 888-286-2237, www.ncadp.org
- Amnesty International, USA, 600 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20003, 800 Amnesty, ext. 508, www.amnesty-usa.org/abolish/.
- Contact:
- Your state's Catholic conference to see what they are doing on the death penalty.
- Your state's abolition organization, e.g., Ohioans to Stop Execution.
- Engage:
- Your parish community in a discussion on the death penalty. Be sure to talk about the practical arguments against it: costs, race, poverty, arbitrariness. Use the video and book Dead Man Walking as well as study materials available from the Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Project, above.
- Your pastor to preach against the death penalty: use the occasion of an execution or a legislative initiative to institute or change some aspect of the death penalty;
- Your parish's school leaders to share Catholic teaching on the death penalty with the students.
- Write:
- A parish/diocesan moratorium statement. In 1997, the American Bar Association called for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty until the racial and income discrepancies could be studied to see if it was being applied fairly. Since that time, a number of organizations have been urging faith groups and others to draft moratorium statements. Go to: http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/ criminal/mortrm2k.shtml/ for sample parish statements.
- Lobby your state legislators:
- ask your members of Congress to support the Innocence Protection Act. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. For more information, see: The Justice Project website: http://justice.policy.net/ipa/.
- urge a moratorium or repeal of your state's death penalty law or keep it off the books if your state doesn't have the penalty;
- urge him/her to work for modifications in existing law, e.g., no executions of the mentally ill or a life-without-parole option.
- Commit to action:
- Sign a "Declaration of Life" a legal document stating that if you are murdered, you do not want your perpetrator to be sentenced to death. For more information, contact, Sr. Camille D'Arienzo, RSM, at Cherish Life Circle, Convent of Mercy, 273 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205-1487, 718-622-5750.
- Join an execution vigil at your state's death row before and during an execution.
- Ask local parishes and other churches to toll church bells on the day of an execution. Contact: For Whom the Bells Toll, c/o Dorothy Briggs, O.P., PO Box 2736, Kalamazoo, MI 49003-2736, E-mail: dotbop@juno.com or visit: www.curenational.org/bells.
- Minister:
- To victims of violence and crime.
- To inmates on death row and in other prisons.
- Practice:
- Models of nonviolence in your home, your workplace, in your car! Teach your children non-violent means of resolving conflict. Join Families Against Violence Advocacy Network: 4144 Lindell Blvd. #408, St. Louis, MO 63109; 314-533-4445; fax - 314-533-1017; E-mail: ppjn@aol.com; website: http//members.aol.com/ppjn
For Further Information, contact:
Andy Rivas, U.S. Catholic Conference, 3211 4th St., NE, Washington, DC 20017, 202-541-3190, E-mail: arivas@usccb.org.
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