THE NEXT BIG STEP (DRAFT, 1/16/08)
The Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty began its mission
shortly after the United States Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in
1976. In the thirty plus years that have followed we have remained a consistent
voice for the abolition of violence by the state.
We have over these years been successful in abolishing the death penalty
for the mentally retarded and making Kentucky the first state to pass a Racial
Justice Act which provides tools for the prevention of racial profiling in the
selection of death penalty defendants.
KCADP over these years has had volunteers and part-time staff travel the
state with our abolition message, and in the last fifteen years Kentucky public
opinion has moved from 69% favoring the death penalty to 64% favoring a
prison sentence over the death penalty. This is a major accomplishment as
reflected in annual University of Kentucky public opinion polling.
We are now completing an experiment with grass roots organizing among
faith based communities throughout the state that has produced increasingly
encouraging results. Doug Stern on a part-time basis has traveled Kentucky,
emphasizing key legislative districts, and found scores of new individuals and
groups to join with KCADP in spreading the facts about the death penalty and
lobbying for its abolition.
At this same time there are many events throughout the country
discrediting the death penalty and causing people to be very troubled with this
ancient practice. New York’s Supreme Court has shut down the death penalty in
that state. The New Jersey legislature has just abolished the death penalty in that
state. The Supreme Court of the United States is wrestling with the question of
the constitutionality of executing with lethal injection. There are continuing
problems with the death penalty and increasing national attention to those
problems.
Because of these developments and these opportunities the Kentucky
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is launching another strong initative for
abolition which we call The Next Big Step.
It is a three year plan, and this is what we intend to do:
1. We will recruit and hire a full time staff person to continue the grass
roots organizing effort, to oversee a volunteer speaker’s bureau and educational
campaign, and to work with Father Delahanty in stepping up the legislative
lobbying imitative.
2. Our Goal in this three year period is to transfer the positive public
opinion favoring prison over execution into the halls of the Kentucky legislature
and to the legislative leaders of Kentucky. This can make possible legislation to
abolish the death penalty for the mentally ill and ultimately to all accused of
violent crime.
3. To accomplish this we are seeking pledges from like minded
Kentuckians that will produce at least $70,000 a year for each of the three years
of our Next Big Step campaign. We will also during these years conduct our
usual fundraising from other sources for additional operating revenues.
4. Our budget for the campaign is as follows:
Rent $ 3,600
Equipment 1,200
Salary & benefits 60,000
Telephone 500
Printing, etc. 500
Travel 1,000
Contingency _ 3,700
Total $70,000
The Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will continue its
campaigns until the death penalty is no longer a part of our criminal law, and we
become a much less violent state.
Rev. Pat Delahanty
