200th Exoneration from Death Row

200th Exoneration from Death Row

by | Jul 11, 2024 | News, Wrongful Conviction

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. Reaches 200th Exoneration from Death Row FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — As of July 1, 2024, 200 prisoners in the U.S. have been exonerated and freed from death row since 1973, demonstrating the serious risk of executing the innocent. Witness to Innocence...

Call the House Judiciary Committee!

by | Oct 29, 2023

The House Judiciary Committee votes Tuesday 9:30 AM on a bill to end the death penalty in Pennsylvania. I’m coming to you with another ask from your friends here in the Keystone State. We need Pennsylvanians only to help FLOOD voicemail and emails. Things remain...

The Fear of Too Much Justice

by | Sep 20, 2023

Join us for an evening with Stephen Bright, one of the loudest and most persuasive voices on the problems of racism and classism in our criminal justice system for over 40 years. He has tried capital cases before juries in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, and argued...
Death row exonerees hold Biden accountable

Death row exonerees hold Biden accountable

by | Mar 21, 2021 | News

They were innocent and on death row. Now, the exonerated want to ensure Biden keeps pledge By Christina Carrega, CNN Updated 6:01 AM ET, Sun March 21, 2021 (CNN)Sabrina Smith was only 17 when a predominately White Mississippi jury convicted her in 1989 for fatally...

Feb. 18, 2021 Updates

by | Feb 18, 2021 | Innocence, News, Uncategorized

February 18, 2021 Death Penalty Updates Death Penalty Information Center adds 11 more people to its innocence list. This brings us to the point where for every eight persons executed since the death penalty was reinstated in the 70s, one person has been exonerated....

Feb. 18, 2021 Updates

by | Feb 18, 2021 | News, Uncategorized

February 18, 2021 Death Penalty Updates Death Penalty Information Center adds 11 more people to its innocence list. This brings us to the point where for every eight persons executed since the death penalty was reinstated in the 70s, one person has been exonerated....

Racism and the Death Penalty

by | Nov 10, 2020

Curtis Flowers spent 23 years on Mississippi’s death row. He was tried six times by a racist prosecutor before the US Supreme Court stepped in to save his life. Our panelists will share their unique perspectives on the inextricable link between lynching and the...

Access to Counsel: A Matter of Life or Death

by | Oct 5, 2020

Join Amnesty International for our annual celebration of World Day Against the Death Penalty. Every year, Amnesty International, and others around the globe, mark this day to raise awareness about the ultimate violation of human rights — the death penalty. We’ll hear...
Our Christian Faith and Capital Punishment

Our Christian Faith and Capital Punishment

by | Jul 19, 2020

Live conversation with Pa. Rep. Frank Ryan, Death Row Exoneree Kirk Bloodsworth, and Vicki and Syl Schieber, the parents of a murder victim. About this Event Join us for a dialogue on Christian faith and capital punishment. Pennsylvania State Rep Frank Ryan,...

Starvin’ 4 Justice

by | Jun 30, 2020 | News

27 years ago three activists gathered outside the Supreme Court for four days and three nights, Starvin’ 4 Justice.  *** 48 years ago, on June 29, 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was unconstitutional in application, being...

Special Screening of Just Mercy & Group Discussion

by | Jun 20, 2020

“We all need mercy, we all need justice, and perhaps we all need some measure of unmerited grace.” Bryan Stevenson Join us for a special screening of the Warner Bros. film, Just Mercy. Michael B. Jordan and Oscar-winners Jamie Foxx (“Ray,” “Baby Driver,”...

Film Screening & Speakers

by | Mar 9, 2020 | Faith, News, Victims' Families

Join us for a screening of the film In the Executioner’s Shadow. Vicki and Syl Schieber, whose daughter Shannon was raped and murdered in Philadelphia, will speak after the film. Audience Q & A will follow. FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Please register...

PADP MOURNS DEATH OF VICE-CHAIR KENNETH L. FOX

by | Feb 19, 2020 | Uncategorized

Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (PADP) announces with sadness the passing away of Kenneth Lawrence Fox, the Vice-Chair of the organization’s board of directors, on Thursday, February 13, 2020. “Working alongside Ken has been a privilege for me,...

Wrongful Conviction: Juan Melendez

by | Feb 14, 2020

Juan Roberto Meléndez-Colón spent almost 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit before being exonerated in 2002. Meléndez-Colón, who could not afford an attorney, was convicted and sentenced to death within a week, even though there was no physical evidence...
The Right of Return x Represent Justice Experience

The Right of Return x Represent Justice Experience

by | Jan 17, 2020

The Right of Return x Represent Justice Experience is a pop-up art experience hosted at Eastern State Penitentiary. The Experience will center on the voices and experiences of those who have been the most impacted by incarceration and uncover important truths about...

A Grave Miscarriage of Justice

by | May 7, 2019

DEATH ROW SURVIVOR JIMMY DENNIS TO SPEAK Easton, PA – On Tuesday, May 7, Jimmy Dennis will share some of his experiences of the 25+ years that he spent on Pennsylvania’s death row. In what a federal court judge called “a grave miscarriage of justice” prosecutors kept...

by | Mar 25, 2019 | Cost, Deterrence, Race, Uncategorized

Prosecution How Overzealous Personalities Drive The Death Penalty Capital Punishment in Pennsylvania DEATH-PENALTY STEWARDSHIP AND THE CURRENT STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA CAPITAL JURISPRUDENCE ABA Study Finds PA Death Penalty Flaws Innocence Carlos de Luna Proceedings of...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Declares Moratorium

California Gov. Gavin Newsom Declares Moratorium

by | Mar 13, 2019 | News

Today, Governor Gavin Newsom took the historic step of declaring a moratorium on executions in California. Four other states have a moratorium in place — Colorado, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. The 737 California death row inmates represent over...

An Examination of the Death Penalty

by | Jan 7, 2019

The Unitarian Church of Harrisburg and Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty invite you to join us for An Examination of the Death Penalty.  The evening includes a documentary film screening, an update on our state’s death penalty system, and...
An Examination of the Death Penalty

An Examination of the Death Penalty

by | Jan 7, 2019

We need to talk. Join St. Paul’s United Church of Christ and PADP for an examination of the death penalty. We’ll be screening the documentary film, “In the Executioner’s Shadow,” sharing information about the death penalty in our state...

My Reflections on Tree of Life Tragedy

by | Oct 29, 2018 | Marshall Dayan

With Vicki Schieber, Pittsburgh October 2018 To My Concerned Friends, This past Saturday morning, I was in synagogue, standing next to the Torah. As we were reading of the binding of Isaac, other folks got word of the shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel...

Sr. Helen Prejean

by | Aug 10, 2018

Arcadia University welcomes Author and Activist Sr. Helen Prejean 450 S. Easton Rd., Glenside, PA 19038 This event is free and open to the public. October 10th World Day Against the Death Penalty

PA’s Death Penalty: Does It Work?

by | Aug 10, 2018

Join us for a screening of Freedom to Live and a presentation on the Joint State Government Commission Report on Capital Punishment. Q & A to follow.   “On June 25, 2018, the Joint State Government Commission issued the report of the task force and...

Death Penalty Is Arbitrary

by | Jun 18, 2018 | Uncategorized

The arbitrariness of the death penalty is one of its worst attributes. If the government is going to carry out capital punishment on its citizens, it should at least be consistent about it. Death sentences are influenced by geography, race, gender, wealth, and mental...

The Death Penalty: Voices of Experience

by | Apr 11, 2018

Joe D’Ambrosio was convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. He spent 22 years on death row. While on death row, he met Fr. Neil Kookoothe and convinced him to take a look at his case. With his experience as a nurse and an attorney, Fr....

The Death Penalty: Voices of Experience

by | Apr 11, 2018

Joe D’Ambrosio was convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. He spent 22 years on death row. While on death row, he met Fr. Neil Kookoothe and convinced him to take a look at his case. With his experience as a nurse and an attorney, Fr....

Chestnut Hill Forgiveness Day

by | Mar 22, 2018

Monsignor Jack Harris Undoing the Knots in our Criminal Justice System: Ministering to those on Death Row Come, listen and join the movement to undo our national bind of inflicting the “death penalty” as a way to say that killing another is wrong. Years of...

Legal & Practical Aspects of the Death Penalty in PA

by | Mar 21, 2018

The honorable Marc Lovecchio, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming County will be discussing the Legal and Practical Aspects of the Death Penalty in PA, presented by the St. Joseph the Worker Social Justice Committee. Refreshments will follow. Fleming...

Is It Time to Kill Capital Punishment?

by | Mar 14, 2018

Joe D’Ambrosio spent 24 years in prison, 22 of them on death row, for a murder he did not commit. With the help of Fr. Neil Kookoothe, he  was finally able to prove his innocence. Joe is the 140th person in the US since 1973 to be sentenced to death and later...

Death Penalty Wastes Too Much Money

by | Feb 22, 2018 | Uncategorized

This letter was published on February 22, 2018 at GoErie.com Abolish the death penalty; it wastes too much money Feb. 13 marks the third anniversary of a moratorium that halted all executions in Pennsylvania. It was enacted by Gov. Tom Wolf in part because of the high...

Forgiveness: A path to heal both victim and offender

by | Oct 13, 2017

CHESTNUT HILL COLLEGE’S INSTITUTE FOR  FORGIVENESS and RECONCILIATION Invites you to an inspiring presentation and conversation Forgiveness: A path to heal both victim and offender When: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 at 7:00pm Where: Redmond Room of Chestnut Hill College...

Ending the Death Penalty; Promoting Restorative Justice

by | Aug 10, 2017

Karen Clifton, the Executive Director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, will be the first of four speakers in this fall’s speakers’ series of the Association of Pittsburgh Priests.  The title of her talk is “Ending the Death Penalty; Promoting Restorative...
Supports repeal of death penalty

Supports repeal of death penalty

by | Mar 14, 2017 | News

March 14, 2017, State Rep. Chris Rabb, of Philadelphia, has confirmed the rumor that he is planning to introduce a bill to repeal Pennsylvania’s death penalty law. I fully support his decision. I believe abolition of our capital punishment system is long...

Wake up call

by | Feb 21, 2017 | News

February 21, 2017 At 6:19 a.m. Saturday morning ACCR staff got the call: 38 years, 3 months and 4 days after the 14-year-old Ricky Olds went to prison for buying a bag of potato chips with the wrong crowd, he was going home a free man. rickyfree If you don’t believe...

Serving Life Film Screening

by | Nov 15, 2016

Chestnut Hill College, one of our partners in the Year of Mercy Campaign to End the Death Penalty, has asked us to share an event that they are hosting.
Capital punishment too costly to justify

Troubling implications

by | Oct 22, 2016 | News

October 22, 2016 Last Thursday, a Centre County court ordered Kevin Siehl to be released from prison. Judge David Grine dismissed the murder charges against Siehl in part because prosecutors withheld evidence of his innocence…
Three Murders in Philadelphia

Pennsylvania’s Shame

by | Oct 12, 2016 | News

October 12, 2016 In 1991, the Philadelphia district attorney’s office indicted a 20-year-old black man named Anthony Wright on a charge of capital murder. The alleged crime was heinous…

Our Catholic Faith and the Death Penalty Seminar

by | Sep 30, 2016

Our Catholic Faith and the Death Penalty is a free seminar that will be held on Tuesday, October 25 at 7 p.m. at the Cardinal Keeler Center, Harrisburg. This seminar will provide an overview of the many considerations related to this important and timely issue. Join...

Pennsylvania Council of Churches – 2016 Shalom Conference

by | Jul 20, 2016

Peacemaking and advocacy work can be lonely work. The Pennsylvania Council of Churches is hosting its first ever “Shalom Conference” on September 24-25 at the Hartman Center (a UCC camp, conference, and retreat facility) in Milroy, PA. The Council’s goal is to launch...

Death by blackness?

by | Apr 26, 2016 | Shane Claiborne

by PADP Board Member Shane Claiborne The color of your skin shouldn’t determine whether you live or die. But that is precisely the case for Duane Buck, a Texas man facing execution. His case is before the Supreme Court this month. Earlier this month, the nation’s...

Life Peace Justice Conference

by | Mar 22, 2016

Life Matters Journal presents Life/Peace/Justice Conference: an unforgettable weekend with some of the best people you will ever meet, discussing the most urgent issues of our day. The presentations will cover ethics, history, practice and public policy on a whole...

The Exonerated

by | Mar 4, 2016

Directed by Vince Ventura March 20, 2016 7:00 PM Prime Stage Studio: 840 Saw Mill Run Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15220 www.primestage.com Culled from interviews, letters, transcripts, case files and the public record, The Exonerated tells the true stories of six wrongfully...

A Lesson Before Dying

by | Mar 4, 2016

by Romulus Linney, based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines Directed by Rich Keitel March 4, 2016 – March 13, 2016 New Hazlett Theater: 6 Allegheny Square E, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 www.primestage.com “I want you to show them the difference between what they think...

The Story That Shocked the County

by | Feb 1, 2016

The Story That Shocked the County featuring Sam Lemon, Sunday Feb 7th from 2 – 4 PM, Media Fellowship House, 302 S. Jackson St., Media Sam Lemon is an author and educator who has researched a case for over 30 years involving a 16-year-old boy who was executed here in...

The Summit Against Racism

by | Dec 10, 2015

The Summit Against Racism : Bringing together organizations and individuals to ELIMINATE racism, and to become allies in the struggle for human equality. PADP will have a table Pittsburgh Theological Seminary – 616 N Highland Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 All Day...

Literary Evening with Bryan Stevenson

by | Dec 6, 2015

Author of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption Sponsored by University of Pittsburgh Honors College and University of Pittsburgh School of Law With support from the Aurora Book Club and the United Black Book Clubs of Pittsburgh Monday, January 25, 2016...

O’Pake Lecture

by | Sep 19, 2015

O’Pake Lecture, Alvernia University at 7PM in the Francis Hall Theatre. Vicki Schieber and Dick Dieter, former head of Death Penalty Information Center. 

Temple Law Foundation Lecture “Just Mercy”

by | Sep 10, 2015

Bryan Stephenson, Social justice advocate Presented by the Temple Law Foundation co-sponsored by The Pennsylvania Innocence Project. 
Temple Performing Arts Center
 1837 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19122 Oct 21, 4-8PM

Governor Wolf has the high ground here

by | Jun 8, 2015 | Marlene Lang

The wording of House Resolution 143 calls Governor Wolf’s moratorium on the death penalty unconstitutional. The action taken by the governor was a moratorium on executions until a study is complete. Wolf has not disregarded the constitution; rather, the governor has...

Nebraska repealed the death penalty!

by | May 27, 2015 | Marshall Dayan

Nebraska makes history!   The Nebraska legislature, having passed a death penalty repeal bill last week, sustained that repeal by overriding today Governor Pete Ricketts’ veto by a vote of 30-19.  This is a huge victory for the national movement to abolish...

Widow: I don’t want to see him executed

by | Mar 19, 2015 | Uncategorized

Over two years ago, Mrs. Norwood stated, in writing, that she did not want Terry Williams to be executed for her husband’s murder.  Today, she reasserted her position. But the District Attorney and some House Representatives deliberately ignored her wishes and...

Upcoming Events

by | Mar 17, 2015 | Uncategorized

Joe D’Ambrosio: Death Row Story Thursday, March 19, 2015 – 7:00pm Taylor Little Theatre, Main Drive, Erie, PA 16504, USA Mercyhurst University Meryhurst University is bringing Joe D’Ambrosio, who was convicted of murder and on death row for 21 years before...

PA Supreme Court leaves reprieve in place

by | Mar 3, 2015 | Uncategorized

Just a few minutes ago, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its ruling in the Terry Williams reprieve challenge filed by the Philly DA’s office. The court left the reprieve in place and ordered additional briefing on the matter.  In doing so, the justices have...

It’s Official. We have a moratorium!

by | Feb 13, 2015 | Uncategorized

From the Desk of Governor Tom Wolf M E M O R A N D U M Pursuant to authority granted in Article IV, § 9 of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, I am today exercising my power as Governor to grant a temporary reprieve to inmate Terrence Williams. A death warrant for this...

Internship Openings

by | Nov 26, 2014 | Uncategorized

Interns play a key role in our organization and are given responsibility accordingly, working on substantial projects and products. Internships are unpaid, but we will provide supervision for academic credit. This is a great opportunity for hands-on, practical...

The Death Penalty: Beyond the Numbers

by | Nov 6, 2014 | Kathleen Lucas

Monday, November 17, 2014 Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m. Dickinson College 208 W Louther St., Carlisle PA Panelists: Kathleen Lucas (moderator), Executive Director, Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Shujaa Graham, Death Row Exoneree Spero Lappas,...

Rethink Executions from Philly.com

by | Sep 17, 2014 | Uncategorized

Posted: Wednesday, September 17, 2014, 1:08 AM Nearly surrounded by states that wisely have scrapped the death penalty – and with ample concerns already raised about the fairness and risk for error in sentencing defendants to death row – Pennsylvania has...

NY Times Editorial: The Innocent on Death Row

by | Sep 4, 2014 | Uncategorized

September 3, 2014 The exoneration of two North Carolina men who spent 30 years in prison — one on death row — provides a textbook example of so much that is broken in the American justice system. And it is further evidence (as though more were needed) that the death...

Is Torture Justice?

by | Jul 31, 2014 | R. Christian Allen

I am sickened by the news of another botched execution. The line between a death sentence and torture is beginning to be blurred. There are no regulations for the unethical process of taking a life, and that is appalling to me. The executioners aren’t doctors,...

Arizona Ignored Real Risks

by | Jul 29, 2014 | Jessica Kirshner

This past Wednesday the state of Arizona carried out a botched execution on Joseph Wood, a man convicted of double murder in 1989. Wood was sentenced to death after being found guilty of killing both his ex-girlfriend and her father. The state of Arizona killed him...

Glenn Ford and An Activist Joke

by | Mar 11, 2014 | Kathleen Lucas

How many death row exonerations does it take before the death penalty is eliminated in Pennsylvania? Ummmm, I give up. How many does it take? I don’t know. We’re still counting! ark, ark, ark Just minutes ago, Glenn Ford, who has spent over 30 years on...

Bringing Human Rights Home

by | Mar 8, 2014 | Uncategorized

Bringing Human Rights Home: A Forum on LGBTQ Rights and Death Penalty Abolition Hosted by Philadelphia and South Jersey Amnesty International and Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Saturday, March 15, 2014 from 9:30am – 4:30pm The Ethical...

No Capitalizing on Capital Punishment

by | Mar 4, 2014 | Uncategorized

cross-posted from The Slate Online By CASSANDRA CLARHAUT | Asst. Opinion Editor It is 2000. The year of Y2K, Backstreet’s Back, and Nintendo’s Game Cube. According to The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) for six years, William Nieves has been on death row,...

What prompts county to seek death penalty?

by | Feb 23, 2014 | Uncategorized

What prompts county to seek death penalty? February 22, 2014 11:24 PM By Paula Reed Ward / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette On March 11, 2013, David Mazzocco shot three people in a bar in North Fayette, killing one and injuring two. The Allegheny County district...

Robert Carl Nordvall, Dedicated Abolitionist

by | Jan 16, 2014 | Uncategorized

Robert Carl Nordvall Robert Carl Nordvall, 73, formerly of Gettysburg, passed away January 2, 2014 in Pistoia, Italy. Born March 23,1940 in Oak Park, Illinois, he was the son of the late Stuart Nordvall and Carmella Craglione Nordvall. He received a Bachelor’s...

Philly Leads the (Wrong) Way!

by | Nov 27, 2013 | Uncategorized

Philadelphia County has sent more inmates to death row than any other county in Pennsylvania. However, a study of criminal cases overturned in the state because of prosecutorial misconduct found over 60% of the cases came from Philadelphia. Radley Balko, writing in...

(Un)Happy 100th Pennsylvania!

by | Sep 20, 2013 | Kathleen Lucas

Pennsylvania, I’d like to wish you an Unhappy 100th. Yesterday, you reached a noteworthy milestone in your tireless quest to kill your citizens. David Ramtahal was resentenced to life without the possibility of parole AFTER being sentenced to death. He became...

"A grave miscarriage of justice"

by | Aug 26, 2013 | Andy Hoover

Last week, after 21 years on Pennsylvania’s death row, James Dennis of Philadelphia finally had his moment of justice. Federal district court Judge Anita Brody ruled that the 1992 conviction of Dennis for the murder of Chedell Ray Williams was “a grave miscarriage...

Prosecutorial Misconduct in Philly… Again

by | Aug 22, 2013 | Uncategorized

District Attorney Seth Williams says he’s “upset and disgusted” at the Judge Anita Brody’s ruling in Jimmy Dennis’s case.  He should be. His solution is to “appeal it to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals or just retry the case.” But he needs to go...

Executing Compassion

by | Aug 5, 2013 | Cantor Michael Zoosman

 I often hear the usual justifications for ending capital punishment. Deterrence is a fallacy. Innocents and the mentally ill are killed off all the time. Racial inequality is rampant in sentencing. The detrimental impact on the executioners is immeasurable. Closure...

West Chester: We have a problem

by | Jul 10, 2013 | Uncategorized

Make that several problems.There’s a first degree murder trial happening right now. The accused could be sentenced to death if he is found guilty. For a capital trial (one where the prosecution has chosen to seek the death penalty), the prospective jurors must be...

Justin Michael Wolfe — Justice Denied

by | May 26, 2013 | Uncategorized

The prosecution is determined to keep Justin in prison, despite a court ruling that vacated his conviction and ordered his release. The prosecution cheated and he has to pay the price. They cheated so much that several judges believe it would be impossible for him to...