MVFR members have lost family members to murder or execution and oppose the death penalty. Friends of MVFR support these members and help bring their stories to the public, the press and policy makers.
We oppose the death penalty for a variety of reasons — endless trials re-open emotional wounds and put off the time when real healing can begin, the vast resources and attention spent on the death penalty is better spent supporting victims and preventing crime in the first place, the risk of executing the innocent is too high a price to pay, biases of geography, race and class plague the system, executions create more families who have lost a loved one to killing, and many of us think it is just plain wrong for the state to kill.
Pat Clark, Board Chair
Latest News
Starvin' for Justice: 15th Annual Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty
It is time again for the 15th Annual Fast and Vigilto Abolish the Death Penalty at the U.S. Supreme Court from June 29th - July 2nd, 2008.
- Among the confirmed Evening Program speakers for 2008 are the following:
SueZann Bosler, Murder Victim Family Member
Renny Cushing - Murder Victim Family Member
Shujaa Graham, California Death Row Survivor
Art Laffin - Murder Victim Family Member
Bill Pelke - Co-founder of the F&V; Murder Victim Family Member
Phyllis Prentice - Organizer & Spouse of an Exonerated Death Row Prisoner
George White, Murder Victim Family Member, Exonerated Prisoner
Vicki Schieber, MVFHR a representative from Amnesty International a representative from Equal Justice USA
Abe Bonowitz, NCADP
Andre Latallade (Capital X)
Diann Rust-Tierney, Executive Director National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Delia Perez Meyer, Sister of a death-row member and Texas Moratorium Network board member
Pilgrimage of Rememberance: Making Strides Toward Abolition and Reconciliation
June 27, 2008
Nazareth House and People of Faith Against the Death Penalty chronicle their 300 mile walk from Raleigh to Washington to remember murder victims, those executed on death row, their families, and to work to abolish the death penalty. This walk, ending at the 15th Annual Starvin for Justice Fast & Vigil in Washington, D.C., is co-sponsored by MVFR.
MVFR is updating their database
June 26, 2008
MVFR is working to update its membership database. If you are signed up as a member, please expect an email from MVFR Board Member's requesting updated information. Updating our database allows us to connect to our network and accomodate our subscribers as our organization continues to grow and evolve in new ways.
Meet Aarti Kelapure
Program Coordinator for California Crime Victim's Project
June 26, 2008
With the support of MVFR, Aarti Kelapure joined California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CCV) as the Program Coordinator in April 2008. She is interested in various criminal justice and social justice issues, namely the death penalty and wrongful convictions. Prior to joining CCV, Aarti volunteered as a research assistant for a member of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice on prosecutorial misconduct, studied international human rights law at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica, and volunteered at Death Penalty Focus. She has also volunteered at a children's homeless shelter and a shelter for battered women and their children. Aarti earned her B.A. in Sociology from University of California, Berkeley.
Meet Judy Kerr
New Victim Outreach Liaison/Spokesperson for California
June 26, 2008
My brother, Robert James Kerr, was found lifeless, shirtless, barefoot and without identification on July 12, 2003 in Everett, Washington. He had been brutally beaten and strangled. It took weeks for investigators to identify him. I spent that time becoming increasingly worried and finally alarmed when he did not arrive for a scheduled visit and when my calls to his cell phone were answered by a stranger. I am still waiting for a suspect in my brother's death to be named and for justice to take its course. My grief is raw and unremitting. But I am absolute in my conviction that another death will not serve me. Justice through execution is not the justice I need and it is not the justice I want in my country or my world. I have never and will never support the death penalty. I know now, more than ever, that killing is wrong. Revenge will not bring my brother back and it will not bring me peace. I honor my brother's life and my memory of him by standing against the death penalty and working as the new Victim Outreach Liaison/Spokesperson for CCV. The scars of his murder will never be gone but healing comes in many forms. My story is offered here in the hope that my words will bring others to the realization that another death will not solve anything and that our voices as victims who oppose more violence must be heard.
MVFR Family Member, Eddie Hicks, Featured on CBS Nightly News
December 16, 2007
Eddie Hicks, whose daughter Jamila was murdered in 2000, was featured on CBS Evening News to discuss his work with New Jersey legislatures to pass the historic bill to abolish the death penalty. Learn more about Hicks and New Jersey's decision here.
MVFR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FEATURED ON NPR'S DEMOCRACY NOW
December 14, 2007
Lorry Post, Executive Director of MVFR and Founder of New Jerseyans Against the Death Penalty was featured on National Public Radio's Democracy Now! in response to New Jersey Lawmakers historic vote to ban the death penalty. Listen to Post here.
NJ LAWMAKERS VOTE TO BAN DEATH PENALTY
December 13, 2007
(Trenton, NJ)
The New Jersey Assembly approved legislation Thursday to abolish the state's death penalty, making Gov. Jon S. Corzine's signature as the only step left before the state becomes the first in four decades to ban executions.
Lawmakers voted 44-36 to replace the death sentence with life in prison without parole. Corzine, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill within a week.
MVFR AWARDED Z. SMITH REYNOLDS FOUNDATION GRANT TO HIRE NORTH CAROLINA FAMILY MEMBER COORDINATOR
November 28, 2007
(Washington, DC) Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has awarded MVFR a grant to hire a Family Member Coordinator for North Carolina. An active search for a Coordinator has begun.
MVFR NAMES LORRY POST EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
November 21, 2007
(Washington, DC) Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) today announced the hiring of Lorry Post as Executive Director.
Post is a founder of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP), the organization leading the current effort to replace the death penalty in New Jersey with life without parole. He was NJADP’s first director and currently serves as a field organizer and a member of the organization’s Executive Committee. Post spent a number of years as a defense attorney, Legal Aid lawyer and legal advisor for non-profit organizations. Post also lost his daughter to homicide. Learn more about Posts' hiring.
