Activism

One very prominent activist group in death row cases is the National Coalition to Abolish The Death Penalty.  Their mission is to not only abolish the death plenty in the United States, but to call for the abolishment of this punishment worldwide. The name of their organization is actually an acronym for their vision of the world.

• 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 NCADP is the nation's oldest organization who's sole focus is the abolishment of the death penalty. They have many different people employed with them, including families of murder victims, as well as past and present law enforcement. Their common goal is to repeal the death penalty, state by state. 

On their website, there is a tab that says about the death penalty, explaining why they feel it should be abolished. There are articles for things such as racial bias, innocence, cost, and harm to prison workers. Their website also has an interactive map, which gives you statistics on death row based on state. For Pennsylvania, there have been 3 executions since 1976. There have been 6 innocent people in PA who have been freed from death row. There are currently 169 inmates in PA waiting for death. The data for PA is current as of September 8th, 2017. If you click read more, they will also tell you where the inmates who are on death row in your state are being held. 

On the front of their home page is a list of upcoming scheduled executions. When you click the take action link, they provide with a number to call. The number is usually a state representative, and all they ask you to do is call and ask them to stop the execution of whoever you are calling about. This really is effective, as some executions have been stayed due to the amount of calls. Stayed means that a court order has been released to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The NCADP website shows you which scheduled executions have been given Stayed status. 

This website provides many other options to get involved. It could be as simple as signing a petition, all the way to becoming affiliated with NCADP and their cause. If you are even slightly interested in becoming an activist for the abolishment of the death penalty, www.ncadp.org is a great place to start.