LINKS
DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS
LATEST NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM TEXAS The latest news about the Death Penalty in Texas is to be found in this Blog: http://texasdeathpenalty.blogspot.com/ ***** Information of all kind around the Death Penalty in Texas is to be found in the website of the Texas Execution Information Center: *****
This NewsGroup called Texas Death Penalty News, owned by Rick Halperin,
kept you updated about http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Texasdeathpenaltynews/ ***** Statistics, addresses, information especially about the Death Penalty in Texas is to be found in this Background Information: http://tcadp.org/get-informed/background-information/
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MORATORIUM FOR EXECUTIONS IN TEXAS??? These days people in Texas discuss a halt of executions in Texas. During the time of the Moratorium the Death Penalty system shall be studied and proved on how to reduce the threat of executing innocent people. This website gives more information: http://www.texasmoratorium.org/ ***** A newspaper article from the Houston Chronicle of March 19, 2001, reports on a hearing concerning a Moratorium in Texas. Among others two former Death Row inmates who got their freedom back because of proven innocence, were speaking to the House State Affairs Committee. ***** The Stand Down Texas Project is "working for a moratorium on executions in Texas, a state sponsored study of our application of the death penalty and necessary reforms":
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OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE TDCJ The website of the "Texas Department of Criminal Justice" (TDCJ) gives statistics and information about every inmate who is on Death Row in Texas, about all executed offenders and scheduled executions. (It's macabre, but there's also a list of the last meal requests of the executed offenders!): http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/death_row/index.html ***** "Web site details final-meal requests on death row" is the title of a newspaper-article of July 2001 about the dubious publishing of the last meals of condemned prisoners.
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TEXAS DEFENDER SERVICE AND TEXAS INNOCENCE NETWORK The Texas Defender Service (TDS) is a private, non-profit law firm recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Founded in 1995, TDS's mission is to help improve the quality of representation afforded to indigent Texans under sentence of death. ***** The Texas Innocence Network (TIN) considers all requests from inmates who have persuasive claims of actual innocence. Director of this organisation is Professor David Dow. http://www.texasinnocencenetwork.com ***** Here is a Guide to the Texas Death Penalty Law - this pathfinder is a resource for locating statistics and legal materials on the death penalty: http://tarltonguides.law.utexas.edu/texas-death-penalty ***** About the case of Cameron Todd Willingham and the campaign Shouting from the Rooftops - executed and innocent!? http://camerontoddwillingham.com/
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TEXAS DEATH ROW This website is about the Polunsky Unit (formerly known as Terrell Unit), the new Death Row in Texas, and the living conditions there. It is called "Welcome to Hell": http://www.deathrow.at/welcometohell/ ***** "Good to know..." for people who have pen friends on Texas Death Row are the Texas Info and Rules in this website - the website doesn't exist anymore, but it is to be found in the webarchive: http://www.todesstrafe-usa.de/staat/texas.htm ***** The Texas Prison Labor Union gives information and offers help about "Abuses in the Texas Prison System" with a focus also on the Death Penalty: http://www.brokenchains.us/TPLU/links.html ***** A description of Texas Death Row at Polunsky Unit with many photographs is to be found in this Blog: http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com/2009/08/fifty-thousand-words-supposedly.html
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AUDIO AND VIDEO DOCUMENTS
"Witness to an Execution" is an Online-Radio-Documentary from NPR of October 2000 - people who witnessed a lot of executions in Texas because of their profession are speaking about their experiences - very moving. There are also some slideshows to watch: http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/witness/ It is not to be listened to online anymore, but: This documentary is available as CD from amazon.com. ***** Also moving is the documentary about Reverend Carroll Pickett "At the Death House Door": http://www.ifc.com/atthedeathhousedoor/ It is not to be found under the link above anymore, but: This documentary is available as DVD from amazon.com or for Download.
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ORGANIZATIONS WHO OPPOSE THE DEATH PENALTY IN TEXAS The "Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty" is a group of organizations and individuals who work for the abolition of the Death Penalty. The website for example gives information about meetings and demonstrations - the TCADP is working to end the Death Penalty through education and action: ***** Another organization fighting the Death Penalty in Texas is the "Texas Abolition Movement": http://www.abolitionmovement.org ***** "Texas Students Against the Death Penalty" (TSADP) works to end the death penalty through campaigns of public education and the promotion of youth activism. Texas Students Against the Death Penalty (TSADP) is an all-volunteer, grassroots organization formed in 2005 with the primary goal of mobilizing state-wide support for a moratorium on executions and/or abolition of the death penalty: https://www.facebook.com/stopexecutions/ ***** The Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center is a statewide coalition working to repeal the Death Penalty: http://www.texasdeathpenalty.org/ ***** "The Texas Mercy Project is an initiative of the Texas Catholic Conference to inspire collaboration and raise public awareness on the issues of criminal justice and the death penalty across the state. Its goal is to bring about policy changes that reflect the mercy of God for those who have sinned and sought redemption." http://www.txcatholicmercyproject.org/
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IMPORTANT ARTICLES FROM NEWSPAPERS OR MAGAZINES ETC. Ines Aubert of the Swiss organization Lifespark asked Gabi Uhl about "Witnessing an Execution" - Interview about important questions like how to prepare and how to decide and how to cope... ***** "Even as die-hard America is faltering over the execution question, some hang onto the belief that killing murderers is the only peace of mind a victim's family can hope for." In her article "Family Values?" Karla Napoleon tries to explore by examples of Karla Faye Tucker and Clifford Boggess, whether retribution therapy is effective in today's culture of violence. ***** Jim Willett was the "King of Death Row" - he was senior warden in Texas and dispatched 89 prisoners in three years. This article published in The Times on May 23, 2001, describes his job and his opinion about the Death Penalty. ***** Another article about Jim Willett who as a "Former Warden Reconsiders Executions" - published on November 8, 2007, in the Dallas Observer. ***** "The Death Factory" is an interesting article about the Death Penalty and the problems of the system of justice in Texas - published in the New York Times on October 2, 2000. ***** "Texas Justice is Blind -- to Fairness" is a commentary by Michael King, published in The Los Angeles Times on February 26, 2003. ***** "The Texas Clemency Memos" - "As the legal counsel to Texas Governor George W. Bush, Alberto R. Gonzales - now the White House counsel, and widely regarded as a likely future Supreme Court nominee - prepared fifty-seven confidential death-penalty memoranda for Bush's review. Never before discussed publicly, the memoranda suggest that Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise Bush of some of the most salient issues in the cases at hand." - Written by Alan Berlow and published July/August 2003 in "The Atlantic Monthly".
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DEATH PENALTY IN USA AND IN GENERAL
INFORMATION AND NEWS The "Death Penalty Information Center" gives in this well-made website information about the Death Penalty in the USA in general. There's also a lot of stuff for example for teachers and students. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org ***** "Death Penalty News & Updates" by Rick Halperin also is about the Death Penalty in general - especially for the USA, but it contains information about other countries all over the world too. Maybe the best source for the latest news, because almost daily updated - including a list of the pending executions in the USA: http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/ ***** The organisation called Hands Off Cain in Italy doesn't focus especially the USA - if you need information about other countries, try their website:
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OPPORTUNITIES TO FIGHT AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY In case you live in Europe, you have the possibility to become a member of the German group Initiative gegen die Todesstrafe e.V. / German Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. If you don't live in Europe: There are coalitions to abolish the Death Penalty all over the world, for example in USA, Canada, Australia. For more information try out: http://www.initiative-gegen-die-todesstrafe.de/nc/en/home.html ***** Besides various Coalitions in the different states the NCADP (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty) fights in the USA against the Death Penalty: ***** With support of Sister Helen Prejean ("Dead Man Walking") the Community of Sant' Egidio meanwhile collected more than 5 millions of Signatures all over the world from people who want the Death Penalty to be abolished. They're also behind Cities for Life every year on November 30th: http://nodeathpenalty.santegidio.org/index.aspx?ln=en ***** If you want to write an inmate who is on Death Row, here is one possibility to find a Pen Pal: You can become a member of Human Writes in England. They befriend prisoners on Death Row in the USA.
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DO NOT FORGET THE VICTIMS! "The Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing is a non-profit organization led by murder victims family members who support alternatives to the death penalty. The Journey is joined by family members of death row inmates and other abolitionists from around the world. The purpose of the Journey is to spotlight murder victims family members who do not seek revenge, and have chosen the path of love and compassion for all of humanity. Forgiveness is seen as a strength and as a way of healing. The Journey's greatest resource are the people who are on it." ***** "After a murder, victims' families face two things: a death and a crime. At these times, families need help to cope with their grief and loss, and support to heal their hearts and rebuild their lives. From experience, we know that revenge is not the answer. The answer lies in reducing violence, not causing more death. The answer lies in supporting those who grieve for their lost loved ones, not creating more grieving families. It is time we break the cycle of violence. To those who say society must take a life for a life, we say: not in our name." Marie Deans, founder of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation ***** The webpage of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation in Texas: http://ami.mvfr-tx.tripod.com/ ***** "Murder Victims Families for Human Rights is an international, non-governmental organization of family members of victims of criminal murder, terrorist killings, state executions, extrajudicial assassinations, and disappearances working to oppose the death penalty from a human rights perspective." https://www.facebook.com/MVFHR
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LINK LISTS Finally an almost incredible list of Death Penalty links - more than 3000 links to websites and articles sorted under various aspects. It's called "1000+ Death Penalty Links". Although this list is part of a pro-death-penalty-site, it contains links of each side - unfortunately last update in 2008: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplinks.htm
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I am not responsible for the contents of these and other webpages I link to in my website.