STARVIN' FOR JUSTICE: 10th Annual Fast & Vigil at the US Supreme Court
PMB 297
177 U.S. Hwy #1
Tequesta, FL 33469
(800) 973-6548
CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz
1-800-973-6548, abe@cuadp.org
STARVIN' FOR JUSTICE 2003; THE TENTH ANNUAL FAST AND VIGIL TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY AT THE U.S. SUPREME COURT June 16, 2003 - Anti-death penalty activists from across the United States will converge on Washington, D.C. June 29 through July 2 for four days of activities commemorating the historic 1972 and 1976 Supreme Court rulings that suspended the death penalty in the United States and later allowed executions to resume.
NOTE TO REPORTERS, EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: A media availability will be held at 11:15 a.m. Monday, June 30 on the sidewalk in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Among those available for interviews will be Juan Melendez, the 99th innocent person released from death row, and spokespersons and leaders from national organizations opposing the death penalty. A public rally, complete with interesting visuals, will begin at noon, and musician Steve Earle will perform at an evening rally.
The annual event is organized by the Abolitionist Action Committee and endorsed by such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union Capital Punishment Project, American Friends Service Committee the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and Students Against the Death Penalty. At the same time the Washington, D.C. event is going on, groups and individuals across the United States and abroad will stage solidarity actions.
June 29 marks the 31st anniversary of the Furman v. Georgia decision suspending executions, while July 2 marks the 27th anniversary of the Gregg v. Georgia ruling allowing executions to resume. Since Gregg, 858 people have been executed in the United States though a combination of lethal injections, hangings, firing squads, gas chambers and electrocutions. In the past 12 months alone, 78 people have been executed, while eight people have been freed from death row and released from prison due to actual innocence.
"The death penalty in 1972 was arbitrary and capricious and the death penalty in 2003 is arbitrary and capricious," said Abe Bonowitz, spokesman for the Abolitionist Action Committee. "The difference between 1972 and 2003 is that the abolition movement in the United States is now committed to a strategy of legislative repeal - organizing on a grassroots level, state by state, legislature by legislature. It is no longer a question of whether we will abolish the death penalty, but when."
Bonowitz said the primary goal of the June 29-July 2 activities is to
educate the public. "This is the tenth year that we will stand vigil in
front of the U.S. Supreme Court between the historic anniversaries
of when all death penalty laws were thrown out in 1972 and when new
laws were upheld in 1976," Bonowitz explained. "Our goal is to further
educate the public about why the death penalty is a bad public policy,
and we invite everyone to stand with us for alternatives to the death penalty.
But the Fast and Vigil also serves as an opportunity for activists to come
together and renew our commitment to the struggle for abolition."
For more information or to learn how to support Starvin' For Justice,
please visit http://www.abolition.org
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