To the participants of VADP's 25" anniversary luncheon
I apologize for not being able to join you all to commemorate 25 years since
the founding of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. I did want to
address you on this occasion, so please allow me to do that.
Twenty-five years ago, a small group of us opposed to the Death Penalty in
Virginia came together to strategize. Marie Deans, considered the Mother of the
movement, was running the Virginia Coalition on Jails and Prisons, and had some
information to share. She presented those 20 or so of us gathered with a survey
that had been conducted by the Center for Survey Research at Virginia Tech with
the findings of its annual Quality of Life in Virginia survey.
Three questions concerning the Death Penalty were asked. When asked, “Are
you in favor or opposed to the Death Penalty”, over 80% were in favor. The next
question asked, “What if there was an alternative of Life without parole’? When
asked that, support for the death penalty went down considerably. Then a third
question was asked. “What if there was an alternative of Life, with no possibility
of parole for a minimum of 25 years plus restitution to the victims' family”? The
survey's results were astonishing. Only 57% supported the death penalty when
given that alternative.
A small group of us saw the value of this survey and thus Virginians A gainst
State Killing (VASK) was born. We realized soon after that if we were going to
“change minds” we needed to change our name to Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty. After all, it was that alternative that was going to be our “Bible”!
To boost our argument, the same questions were asked in repeated annual polls,
and as the years went by, we saw the same majority support for our altemmative as
well as a steady decrease in support for the death penalty.
In the 11 + years that I directed VA DP's efforts, the words of that survey
rolled off my tongue with every presentation I made to gatherings of people, with
every media interview, with every address to politicians, lawyers, and the general
public. And what I found was that pretty much everyone agreed with the
altemative just as the survey's showed. Well- maybe not so much with Legislators,
though a number of them seemed interested.
It was through educating the legislatures, the media, and the public, that the
death penalty became an issue. Along with speaking tours by murder victims'
families opposed to the death penalty, a steady increase in the number of
executions, and increased interest by the media, we were able to bring the issue
into the news.
And we see the fruits of those labors today. The dreaded 21- Day Rule has
been addressed. Better pre-trial representation for those accused and offenders,
better understanding of the death penalty including issues of innocence, the cost,
the disparities, etc. are parts of the reasons why Virginia's Death Row population
has dwindled from 70-80 to less than 10, where it is today.
I applaud you for keeping VA DP alive and urge you to continue educating the
public and Virginia's legislators that, “Yes Virginia, there is an alternative to the
Death Penalty”!
All the Best,
Henry Heller
