Press Release

MEDIA ADVISORY

28 February 2000

CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz
Pager: 888-319-1369
Messages: 800-973-6548

Members of Anti-death penalty organizations throughout the United States are organizing around Wednesday, March 1st, in celebration of International Death Penalty Abolition Day, the 153rd anniversary of the date in 1847 when the State of Michigan became the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish the death penalty.

SEE BELOW FOR A LISTING OF EVENTS SCHEDULED ACROSS THE UNITED STATES

"Americans are beginning to take a hard look at how our criminal justice system is failing," said Abe Bonowitz, Director of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "As a registered Republican, a fiscal conservative, and a former supporter of the death penalty, it is clear to me that anyone who examines the system from a non-emotional standpoint will find that economically, socially and morally, the practice of the death penalty is bad public policy."

Organizers of "Abolition Day" events point to the State of Michigan as an example that viable alternatives to the death penalty exist. "They got rid of the death penalty because they found that they could not trust themselves to use it fairly, and they learned too late that they had killed an innocent man," said Bonowitz. Michigan has been without the death penalty for 153 years. The first act of their new legislature when Michigan became a state was to abolish the death penalty.

"Politicians owe it to the people of this country to take a serious look at the alternatives to the death penalty already in use across this country," said Bonowitz. "Violent criminals can be punished, and society protected, through the use of long-term prison sentences before a convicted person can be considered for parole. It works in Michigan and in other states like California, which has the oldest 'Life Without Parole' (LWOP) statute in the country. Not one of the people sentenced to LWOP has been released. We are saying to the people of (name of state), 'Don't make us become that which we deplore. Don't kill in our names. We can do better.'"

FOR DETAILS ON THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION DAY, PLEASE VISIT www.cuadp.org and click on "Abolition Day."

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: 9am hearing on Moratorium and Lethal Injection bills at joint meeting of House and Senate Judiciary Committees: State Office Building at 11 Union St. Activities are also planned in Selma for March 3-5. Contact: Judy Cumbee 334-499-2380 judysi@mindspring.com and/or Lucia Penland 334-264-7416. WEST

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: Noon-hour protest at County Courthouse Contact Carolyn Gray of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) at 800-973-6548 for details.

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Speakers/rally in the Capitol Rotunda from 4:30-6:30pm Contact: Karen Burkhart, AIUSA's State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator, at 317-839-1618.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: 12:15 pm Mass at St. Aloysius Catholic Church in downtown Detroit. An interfaith service at Central United Methodist Church will follow at 1:30 pm featuring Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, Wayne County Prosecutor John O'Hair and Sonia Jacobs, an innocent survivor of Florida's death row. Contact Sally Peck of Michigan People of Faith Against the Death Penalty at 248-477-8232 or speck@peck.cncfamily.com.

OMAHA, NEBRASKA: RALLY from 5 to 6pm, at 72nd and Dodge Contact: Marylyn Felion of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty at 402-551-5834

CLEVELAND, OHIO: Public event featuring George White, who was wrongfully convicted in the murder of his wife. 7-9pm, Jardine Room at John Carroll University Contact: Charles Murray of the Cleveland Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty at(216) 696-6525 ext. 4040

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: Rally beginning at 11 AM outside the General Assembly Building on 9th between Grace & Broad followed by visits to legislators. It is also possible that Senate Courts of Justice will meet that afternoon to discuss HB1311 (Capital Case Bill of Review). Contact: Henry Heller of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) at 888-567-VADP or www.vadp.org.

***** For more information, please page Abe Bonowitz at 888-319-1369. Free information is available to the public from Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP), a Florida-based national organization working to increase the level of informed dialogue about viable alternatives to the death penalty. CUADP may be reached toll-free at 800-973-6548 or on the internet at www.cuadp.org.

POSTED BY:
Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty