Death Penalty Abolition Action Group

1958 the General Convention of the Episcopal Church opposed capital punishment on a theological basis that the life of an individual is of infinite worth in the sight of Almighty God, and the taking of such a human life falls within the providence of Almighty God and not within the right of Man.

1979-D004 Reaffirm Opposition to Capital Punishment. Concurred As Substituted and Amended The 66th General Convention reaffirms its opposition to capital punishment and calls on all dioceses and individual Church members to work actively to abolish the death penalty.

1991-D056 Reaffirm Opposition to Capital Punishment. Concurred As Amended The 70th General Convention reaffirms its position opposing capital punishment. It deplores the expansion of capital offenses by federal legislative action and supports initiatives to establish alternatives to incarceration and to reduce recidivism.

2000-A082 Reaffirm Opposition to the Death Penalty and Call for a Moratorium. Concurred as Amended The 73rd General Convention reaffirms its opposition to the death penalty and calls for a moratorium on the use of capital punishment.

2000-A083 Urge Parishes and Dioceses to Study the Death Penalty and Explore Reasons for Opposition. Concurred as Substituted The 73rd General Convention urges parishes and dioceses to study the death penalty and explore the reason for the Church’s opposition.

2015-D025 Abolish the Death Penalty State by State. Concurred that the 78th General Convention reaffirms its longstanding call to put an end to the death penalty, encourages governors to submit and support legislation for abolition, encourages bishops to appoint task forces of clergy and lay persons to develop a witness around the death penalty, and requests that these bishops report back on their actions to the Standing Commission on Justice and Public Policy prior to the 79th General Convention.

Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the U.S., challenging racial and economic injustice, and protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

People of Faith Against the Death Penalty is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, interfaith organization whose mission is to educate and mobilize faith communities to act to abolish the death penalty in the United States. Founded in 1994 in North Carolina, PFADP focuses its programs on organizing among faith communities.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Founded in 1976, this organization serves its network of over 100 state and national affiliates. Up-to-date information and easy links to state groups.

American Civil Liberties Union supports moratorium and repeal efforts through education and advocacy; involved in case-specific litigation.

Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights is an international, non-governmental organization of family members of murder victims and family members of the executed, all of whom oppose the death penalty in all cases. We view the death penalty as a profound violation of human rights.

The Prison Story Project. A ministry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas. This storytelling/creative writing project was given unprecedented access to men on Arkansas’ death row in 2016, a few months before the state was to carry out the mass execution of eight men just after Easter 2017. Four of the men the project served were on that list. Their stories were edited into a staged reading and have been performed for audiences across the United States. A filmed version of On the Row: Stories From Arkansas’ Death Row is now available for screenings.

Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition (forthcoming) by Ruth Wilson Gilmore

Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow: An Organizing Guide by Daniel Hunter

The Saint on Death Row by Thomas Chahill

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton

13th by Michelle Alexander