MVFR Speaks
MVFR Press Statement
For Immediate Release Wednesday May 22, 2013 @ 10a.m. EST VICTIMS NEEDS, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND RACIAL BIAS IN DEATH SENTENCING Raleigh, NC – Victims’ families deserve a judicial system they can trust to deliver justice without regard for the race of the victim, the jurors, or the accused. The problem of race discrimination in [...]
Death Penalty Not a Solution – a Letter to North Carolina Legislators from MVFR member Jean Parks
I am saddened by the legislation (SB306) recently filed in the NC Senate to resume executions, especially since the bill sponsor, Sen. Thom Goolsby, claims to be working to achieve justice for victims. Not all family members of murder victims feel like the death penalty is an effective tool for achieving justice for our loved [...]
MVFR board member Judith Elane lifts murder victims’ families voices at Arkansas Senate hearing.
On Wednesday, January 30 2013, the Judiciary Committee of the Arkansas Senate held a hearing to examine the pros and cons of the death penalty. The Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (ACADP) coordinated speakers who told legislators why capital punishment is bad public policy for the state. MVFR board member Judith Elane was [...]
Reflections on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that “Capital punishment is against the best judgment of modern criminology and, above all, against the highest expression of love in the nature of God.” His call for abolition was upheld after his assassination by his wife, Coretta Scott King, who said that “as one whose husband and mother-in-law [...]
Pride in Connecticut
This past Wednesday, I had the honor of being a guest at the signing of the repeal of the death penalty bill recently passed to the governor from the Connecticut Senate and House of Representatives. When Governor Malloy signed the bill, I was overjoyed. The tone of occasion was solemn and respectful, as it should [...]
An Issue of Color – Black and White and Red and Brown
As a mother of 10-year-old twins, I know and understand the simple joys of motherhood – watching the determination of first steps, experiencing the excitement before a school play, and seeing the care given to a handmade Mother’s Day card are all joys I’ve experienced. On April 20, 2012 Mother’s Day came early for MVFR [...]
Reflections on the Miracle of Repeal in Connecticut
Miracles are real! I know the recent repeal of the death penalty law in Connecticut was a miracle. Not a miracle in the sense of rare, but in the sense of energies coming together to create something marvelous and full of life, like a birth. Participating as one of the 180 family members who spoke [...]