MVFR’s Mission
Founded in 1976, Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) is a national organization of family members of victims of both homicide and executions who oppose the death penalty in all cases. MVFR includes people of many different perspectives. Because violent crime cuts across a broad spectrum of society, our members are geographically, racially and economically diverse.Highlights
Welcome! We are happy you found us and hope you will sign up for our action alerts. We currently have high-level campaigns in Texas, North Carolina, and California; additionally we are actively working for abolition in all states that continue to execute.
Over the next year we expect to expand our presence in additional, targeted states by recruiting, training and mobilizing family members. MVFR will roll out more resources for our members, speak at more events and raise awareness through the media by telling our stories.
Last month MVFR conducted a tour in NC featuring David Kaczynski, brother of the unabomber and Bill Babbitt, brother of Manny Babbitt. They chronicle their stories of turning their mentally ill brothers in to authorities and their experience with the death penalty. Read news items below:
My Brother’s Keeper?
Voices of Experience on Race, Mental Illness and the Death Penalty
Raleigh: News and Observer
Rocky Mount: Telegram
Wilmington: Star News
Greenville: The Daily Reflector
Kinston: WNCT News
Raleigh: WRAL News
David Kaczynski blog
David Kaczynski, brother of “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, and Bill Babbitt, brother of Marine veteran and Purple Heart recipient Manny Babbitt told their stories of personal courage and family tragedy across Eastern North Carolina. Both men dutifully and painfully turned in their seriously mentally ill brothers to authorities after suspecting them of murder. Ted Kaczynski was sentenced to life in prison without parole and Manny Babbitt was executed.“The story of my brother, Ted, is one of great intellectual and professional promise completely derailed and devastated by paranoid schizophrenia,” said David Kaczynski. “And even more devastating is the fact that Ted’s mental illness was responsible for the deaths of three innocent people and the injury of 23.” When David turned Ted in, he was told that Ted would get psychiatric treatment, but instead the Justice Department sought the death penalty. Ted refused to let his lawyers raise an insanity defense, and in the end, he pled to life without parole.
The North Carolina General Assembly is currently considering a bill
that would cap punishment at life without the possibility of parole
for people with severe mental illness at the time of the crime and
exempt them from the death penalty. Kaczynski, a man who has seen
the issue up close, says, “No one with mental illness so severe that
it impairs their capacity for decision-making should face the death
penalty.”
“Less than one percent of people who commit murder in North Carolina
are sentenced to death. This bill helps to ensure that a person with
a severe mental illness at the time of the crime is not in that top
one percent who receive the harshest punishment our system
administers,” says Kris Parks, an advocate with Disability Rights
North Carolina, “North Carolina should enact legislation that ensures
the safety of the public while recognizing that offenders with
serious mental illness are not the most culpable and should not face
the most severe punishment.”
“My brother, Manny Babbitt, joined the Marines at age 17, did two
tours in Vietnam and fought in five major campaigns,” said Bill
Babbitt. During a 77 day siege at Khe Sanh, Manny picked up pieces of
his dead fellow soldiers, then was himself wounded, and was flown out
in a helicopter on a pile of dead bodies. “Manny was never the same
after he came home and ultimately was diagnosed with paranoid
schizophrenia and post traumatic stress disorder,” said Babbitt.
When the body of a woman who died of a heart attack after a break in
and beating was found, Bill suspected Manny. “I turned in my brother
with the promise of mental health treatment and the death penalty
taken off the table. Manny was represented by a lawyer who refused to
allow any African-Americans on his jury [Babbitt was
African-American], drank heavily, and was later disbarred and sued
for racism. Manny was, in fact, sentenced to death, and in 1999,
while I watched, he was executed,” said Babbitt.
Last summer, North Carolina became only the second state in the
country to enact a Racial Justice Act, a law that prohibits racial
bias in prosecutorial and sentencing decisions.
“David and Bill’s stories are specific examples of the many
inequities and problems with the death penalty system. MVFR members are not only troubled by these basic problems but also weary of the claim that the death penalty somehow serves them when, in fact, it diverts attention and limited resources away from what would address their needs, such as counseling and financial assistance,” said MVFR NC Coordinator and tour organizer Scott Bass.
My Brother’s Keeper?
Voices of Experience on Race, Mental Illness and the Death Penalty
Raleigh: News and Observer Rocky Mount: Telegram Wilmington: Star News Greenville: The Daily Reflector Kinston: WNCT News Raleigh: WRAL News David Kaczynski blog David Kaczynski, brother of “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, and Bill Babbitt, brother of Marine veteran and Purple Heart recipient Manny Babbitt told their stories of personal courage and family tragedy across Eastern North Carolina. Both men dutifully and painfully turned in their seriously mentally ill brothers to authorities after suspecting them of murder. Ted Kaczynski was sentenced to life in prison without parole and Manny Babbitt was executed.“The story of my brother, Ted, is one of great intellectual and professional promise completely derailed and devastated by paranoid schizophrenia,” said David Kaczynski. “And even more devastating is the fact that Ted’s mental illness was responsible for the deaths of three innocent people and the injury of 23.” When David turned Ted in, he was told that Ted would get psychiatric treatment, but instead the Justice Department sought the death penalty. Ted refused to let his lawyers raise an insanity defense, and in the end, he pled to life without parole. The North Carolina General Assembly is currently considering a bill that would cap punishment at life without the possibility of parole for people with severe mental illness at the time of the crime and exempt them from the death penalty. Kaczynski, a man who has seen the issue up close, says, “No one with mental illness so severe that it impairs their capacity for decision-making should face the death penalty.” “Less than one percent of people who commit murder in North Carolina are sentenced to death. This bill helps to ensure that a person with a severe mental illness at the time of the crime is not in that top one percent who receive the harshest punishment our system administers,” says Kris Parks, an advocate with Disability Rights North Carolina, “North Carolina should enact legislation that ensures the safety of the public while recognizing that offenders with serious mental illness are not the most culpable and should not face the most severe punishment.” “My brother, Manny Babbitt, joined the Marines at age 17, did two tours in Vietnam and fought in five major campaigns,” said Bill Babbitt. During a 77 day siege at Khe Sanh, Manny picked up pieces of his dead fellow soldiers, then was himself wounded, and was flown out in a helicopter on a pile of dead bodies. “Manny was never the same after he came home and ultimately was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and post traumatic stress disorder,” said Babbitt. When the body of a woman who died of a heart attack after a break in and beating was found, Bill suspected Manny. “I turned in my brother with the promise of mental health treatment and the death penalty taken off the table. Manny was represented by a lawyer who refused to allow any African-Americans on his jury [Babbitt was African-American], drank heavily, and was later disbarred and sued for racism. Manny was, in fact, sentenced to death, and in 1999, while I watched, he was executed,” said Babbitt. Last summer, North Carolina became only the second state in the country to enact a Racial Justice Act, a law that prohibits racial bias in prosecutorial and sentencing decisions. “David and Bill’s stories are specific examples of the many inequities and problems with the death penalty system. MVFR members are not only troubled by these basic problems but also weary of the claim that the death penalty somehow serves them when, in fact, it diverts attention and limited resources away from what would address their needs, such as counseling and financial assistance,” said MVFR NC Coordinator and tour organizer Scott Bass.
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