Human Rights Group Protests Capital Punishment In Nation’s Capital

By Courtney Costello-Talk Radio News Service

The Abolitionist Action Committee, a human rights organization promoting nonviolent alternatives to the death penalty, have been staging a hunger strike for the past 4 days to mark the anniversaries of two very different landmark rulings over execution, Furman v. Georgia and Gregg v. Georgia.

In 1972 the Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty violated the 8th amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. 4 years later in Gregg v. Georgia the court ruled that provisions made by individual states can create situations in which the death penalty is constitutional.

“There are tens of thousands of people passing by: commuters going to work, tourists from around the world. We are able to get the message of abolition of capital punishment to them, because it’s something that’s a part of all of our lives,” said vigil organizer Scott Langley.

Vigil attendee Scott Bass of North Carolina recounted walking over 312 miles in 17 days in an effort to reach out to people about the death penalty’s effects on the families of homicide victims and families of those on death row.

“We were walking for restorative justice rather than the death penalty,” said Bass.

Organizers claimed that over 100 people have attended since the vigil’s start. They will be able to break their fast at midnight Friday.

“The death penalty maybe slowly but surely crumbling in this country”, said Langley.

Fifteen states have abolished the death penalty, while many other states are questioning the practice.

The Abolitionist Action Committee has held the ‘Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty’ for 16 years.