Criminal Justice and Social Justice Organizations
Check out the organizations below. What issues do they bring up that strike a chord with you? Is there a campaign in which you would like to become involved? If the campaign that interests you is not being conducted in your region, you can start an equivalent effort in your school or community!
Death Penalty Information Center
The Death Penalty Information Center is a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. It prepares in-depth reports, issues press releases, conducts briefings for journalists and serves as a resource to those working on this issue.
Michigan State High School Death Penalty Curriculum
This website is designed to assist both teachers and students in an exploration of capital punishment, pressing arguments for and against its use, as well as issues of ethics and justice that surround it. This site has received numerous awards and recognitions, for educational value, and high-quality content and site design.
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP)
NCADP provides information, advocates for public policy, and mobilizes and supports individuals and institutions that share the unconditional rejection of capital punishment. NCADP offers online fact sheets with quality information on issues such as racial bias, cost, innocence, and deterrence (some are available in Spanish): http://www.ncadp.org/facts_figures.html. They also offer an email action alert and news update: www.ncadp.org.
The Youth section of NCADP works with colleges and universities. Contact The Youth Program Director of NCADP, at (202) 543-9577 for more information on their Affiliate Resource Kit.
Amnesty International USA: The Death Penalty
By working towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, Amnesty International USA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty seeks to end the cycle of violence created by a system riddled with economic and racial bias and tainted by human error. Amnesty International offers state information as well as a way to contact the State Death Penalty Coordinator.
Amnesty International offers a downloadable and printable comic from their website.
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. The Death Penalty section of their website offers ways to take action, as well as resources to learn more about the death penalty.
ACLU FreedomWire
Students and young people have constitutional rights, and the ACLU is dedicated to protecting them. Whether you are a young person concerned that your rights have been violated, a student writing a research paper, or an activist working for change, the resources on the FreedomWire are there to help.
Education Not Incarceration
Education Not Incarceration is a California-based coalition of teachers, parents, students, and community members who are outraged by the current cuts in education funding. They believe that the state budget needs to prioritize educational funding, as well as funding for other important social services, such as increased spending on prisons.
Books Not Bars
Books Not Bars (BNB) is fighting to redirect California's public resources away from punishment for young people and towards opportunity for them. Their “Alternatives for Youth” campaign is fighting to close the youth prisons of the California Youth Authority.
