While hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each
year on the death penalty, a shocking number of homicides
remain unsolved in California. This report by California
Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(CCV) focuses on unsolved homicides in California, a
problem that has been largely ignored until now by policy
makers and the media. By shifting limited public safety
resources away toward solving every murder we can achieve
justice for all crime victims, not just symbolism for
a few.
Not In Our Name: Murder Victims'
Families Speak Out Against the Death Penalty
California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty, in collaboration with Murder
Victims' Families for Reconciliation, released the
booklet Not In Our Name: Murder Victims' Families
Speak Out Against the Death Penalty (NION). NION
contains 20 stories from family members of murder victims
and of the executed honoring his/her loved one and speaking
out against the death penalty. Each family member either
lives in California or his/her loved one lived in California.
The
people you will meet in this booklet have endured unimaginable,
heartbreaking loss: the murder of a child, a parent,
a sibling, a friend. Despite all efforts, their wounds
may never entirely heal. Yet they choose to speak. They
choose to raise their voices, individually and collectively
against the death penalty and to share their most personal
and painful stories of loss. Why? Because all too often,
the loved ones of murder victims find that other people
purport to speak for them, while their own voices are
stilled. They are invoked as a reason to support the
death penalty because it is assumed that all victims'
families want executions. Yet, for so many victims’
survivors — like those featured in this booklet
— the death penalty solves nothing and can even
perpetuate their suffering.
Lethal Injection Hearing Coverage » KOVR 13 TV (CBS) (featuring
Judy Kerr of CCV) - CLICK
HERE » News 10 TV (ABC) (featuring
Ellen Eggers of DPF) - CLICK
HERE » KFBK Radio (pro-death penalty)
- CLICK
HERE » KPFA Evening News (featuring
Judy Kerr of CCV and Yoko Otani-Spurlin of DPF) - CLICK
HERE (Begins at 28:00)
Alternatives to the Death Penalty - video from
IAM featuring Aqeela Sherrills and Judy Kerr
Murder Victims' Families Call for Ban on Executions
of Mentally Ill - video from MVFHR-NAMI meeting
"Prevention, Not Execution" on October 3,
2008 in San Antonio, TX
»Death
Penalty Trials Just Waste Money, by Judy Kerr, Spokeswoman
and Victim Liaison for California Crime Victims for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Riverside Press-Enterprise,
June 4, 2009
»Crime
Victims Week-Death Penalty Alterntatives, by Judy
Kerr, Spokeswoman and Victim Liaison for California
Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty,
California Progress Report, April 27, 2009
»Grieving
Mother on a Mission.Everyday Heroes featuring
Lorrain Taylor,CCV Member and Director of 1,000
Mothers to Prevent Violence, USF Magazine, Fall 2008
»Death
Row Cost Overrun: $40 Million. New San Quentin housing
also could run out of room, report says. By Matthew
Yi, San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 2008
