May 1999

Dear Friend,

The year may be young, but 1999 has been unusually active - in promising and shameful ways.

Already, we have mourned 40 executions this year. At this staggering pace, the number of executions in 1999 will reach 120, rivaling rates last seen during the Great Depression.

On the other hand, we have seen encouraging legislative gains in the movement for a moratorium on executions.

• The Illinois House passed a resolution calling for a temporary halt on executions in late March! As our latest issue of Moratorium News! details (CLICK HERE to read the article), the release of two more innocent people from death row this spring is fueling events in the state. In the last five years, a total of nine innocence cases - and the role of police and prosecutorial abuses - have shaken public complacency about executions. A recent poll shows that 54% of Illinois voters now favor a moratorium on executions. The survey also shows a 13% decline in support for capital punishment since 1994.
  
• Nebraska's one-house legislature voted 26-20 for a bill that would enact a two-year moratorium on executions. Two additional votes are required before the legislation is sent to the Governor, whose possible veto would require a 30-vote override. The chair of the judiciary committee, a death penalty supporter, backs the initiative.
  
• In Oklahoma, more revelations of innocence made national news in April. Ronald Williamson was exonerated of capital murder and released after conclusive DNA evidence demonstrated he could not have committed the horrific rape and murder of Debra Sue Carter in 1987.

We have much to celebrate. Your participation in Equal Justice USA's Moratorium Now! campaign is fueling this momentum to halt executions. Yet, 1999's mounting dead count reminds us that our organizing efforts must be relentless. We write to update you and to ask for your ongoing involvement and support.

Moratorium Now! works with activists and groups around the U.S. to maximize grassroots pressure for a halt on executions. Our cooperative efforts have recruited more than 450 national, state and local groups to join the call for an immediate moratorium on all executions. We are on track to reach our goal of 2,000 by the end of 2000.

Your action is crucial to the campaign's success. Please review the enclosed National Tally to make sure your congregation and/or community group has joined the call. Take a moratorium resolution to your town, city or county council and other organizations in your area. We have included a model resolution in Moratorium News! Send us an email to suggest groups that Equal Justice USA should contact directly. Remember that no group is too small. We need to take the moratorium message everywhere.

Thanks to your generosity, the Moratorium Now! campaign is expanding. By July, we will add a second staff organizer. We are increasing direct support for resolution organizing and public education on a state level, where political struggles for a moratorium will ultimately be decided.

We are also strengthening and increasing the profile of the national moratorium movement by:

• Convening the Moratorium Working Group, which meets regularly in Washington, DC.
  
• Laying plans to place a mass signature ad in the New York Times, in collaboration with Moratorium 2000, to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly's expected vote on a worldwide moratorium this fall.
  
• Mounting a media campaign around the upcoming milestone of 500 groups joining the National Tally.
  
• Building a moratorium e-mail alert network. To join, simply send us your e-mail address at ejusa@quixote.org or via regular mail.

Your aid is central to the impact of this ambitious campaign. Will you continue your commitment with a gift of $50? For a gift of $75 or more, we will send you a Moratorium Now! T-shirt. This 100% cotton, two-color shirt is perfect for the months of warm weather ahead.

We close by sharing two more spring victories. Legislatures in two non-death penalty states defeated bills aimed at reinstating executions. The Michigan House rejected, by a two-thirds margin, a measure that would have put a referendum on the ballot to change the state constitution to allow death sentences. In the Massachusetts' House, a reinstatement bill was defeated by seven votes - a significant margin given that a similar bill failed on a tie vote in late 1997.

Recent changes in public perceptions about the death penalty have impacted the political climate. Massachusetts' legislator Kathy Callahan, who had led a petition drive for reinstatement in 1997, changed her mind because of her concerns about innocent people being executed.

Your gifts and actions do make a difference! Together, we give public witness to the deep flaws behind the death penalty and create a climate of support for a halt to executions (CLICK HERE to make a donation).

P.S. We are truly seeing a dramatic shift in our culture's understanding of the death penalty. It has become a point of debate from which public opposition to executions can only grow. When Equal Justice USA began this work nearly 10 years ago, public attention to the death penalty was virtually non-existent. You who have walked with us over the years have made our contribution to this social transformation possible. Just imagine what we can do together in the future!

return to top