VIRGINIANS FOR
f ALTERNATIVES
TO THE DEATH PENALTY
May 1, 2021
Dear VADP Supporter,
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Without your financial support and advocacy, we would not have achieved
our goal of becoming the first Southern state to end the death penalty. All of
us at VADP are deeply grateful.
Now we face a new question: What is VADP’s role in a Virginia that
no longer has capital punishment?
Our board of directors (briefly) considered dissolving the organization.
Another possibility: Shifting our mission to a new criminal justice goal? But in
the end, the board elected to keep VADP alive and strong through at least the
end of 2021 to carry out two objectives ... actually two reasons I ask you to
make one more contribution to VADP today.
First, we must ensure that our historic victory
is not overturned in the 2022 Virginia legislative session.
In November voters will select a new Governor and all 100 House of
Delegates seats will go to the ballot. So we face the risk of a new Governor
and House Speaker promoting the death penalty in January 2022.
We know from hard experience in other states that death penalty
abolition is most at risk in the first few years after a victory. And it happens.
Arizona, Oregon, and Nebraska are among states that reinstated executions
after repeal.
Another risk: our success could leave our mission depleted of energy.
But death penalty proponents are still very motivated to carry on the fight for
executions
Second, VADP can use all we learned to help
end the death penalty in other states!
Virginia’s death-penalty repeal is creating ripples nationwide, and, in fact,
we are now the exemplar for this mission.
Historically, if a state rarely used the death penalty, abolition came early
and easy. Since Virginia has (sadly) been the national “leader” in state-
mandated death, executing 1,390 people over 413 years, people in states that
still freely execute now say...
“Tf Virginia can repeal the death penalty, we can, too!”
Our team is already consulting with abolition groups in Florida, Georgia,
Missouri, Kansas, and Indiana. We - and they - now want a “How To” guide!
VADP Field Director Dale Brumfield has written two acclaimed books on
Virginia’s criminal justice system, and we have asked him to tell our story -
our process, what worked and what didn’t, effective grassroots action, finding
allies - a playbook for ending the death penalty in other states.
Dale is already interviewing key people in Virginia’s long death penalty
abolition history - capital defense attorneys, murder victim family members,
exonerees, and local abolition leaders. Our goal is to have the book published
and ready for sale early in March of 2022.
So you can see why we’re not ready to say “Mission Accomplished” and
close up shop. We have work that’s important to our cause and, I’m sure to
you. And, as ever, we need your continued financial support to achieve these
goals.
Any amount - $10, $25, $100, or $500 - will be a significant contribution
to our work.
And those who contribute $250 or more will receive a copy of our
abolition book once it is published in 2022 with a personal note
from the author.
Help us defend our abolition victory and tell our story to the world. I
hope you stay well, and ask that you be as generous as you can today.
With gratitude,
Michael E. Stone
Executive Director
P.S. Yes. Virginia is free of the death penalty. But the price of victory is
vigilance to defend this historic victory. That’s why we need your continued
financial support to defend our victory in next year’s legislative session, and to
support other states trying to achieve this same victory. Please send your
generous tax-deductible contribution to VADP, using the enclosed form and
envelope. (You can also give with your credit or debit card at our secure web
site: www.vadp.org “Donate.”) Thank you!
P.P.S. As I mention in my letter, we’ll send Dale Brumfield’s “How To” book to
each person who donates $250 or more, signed, with a personal note. That
said, any amount will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for sharing in our
success and continuing your generous support.
