NEW VOICES: Victims Organizations Issue Joint Statement for National Victims’ Rights Week

Three orga­ni­za­tions whose mem­ber­ships include fam­i­ly mem­bers of mur­der vic­tims recent­ly issued a joint state­ment in con­junc­tion with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, which takes place April 22 — 28, 2007. The state­ment, issued by the lead­ers of Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, and Journey of Hope, called for gov­ern­men­tal poli­cies that serve the true needs of fam­i­ly mem­bers. The groups called for an end to the death penal­ty, not­ing that alter­na­tives to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment ​“pro­vide the cer­tain­ty and pun­ish­ment that many fam­i­lies need while keep­ing our com­mu­ni­ties safe.”

Their statement read:

April 22 – 28, 2007 is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. The theme for this year is ​“Victims’ Rights: Every Victim, Every Time.” As vic­tims, and sur­vivors, we strong­ly sup­port efforts to ensure that the needs of vic­tims’ don’t fall through the cracks or fall prey to pol­i­tics.

The death penal­ty does not serve vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. It draws resources away from need­ed sup­port pro­grams, law enforce­ment and crime pre­ven­tion. And the tri­als and appeals end­less­ly re-open wounds as they are begin­ning to heal, and it only cre­ates more fam­i­lies who lose loved ones to killing.

Alternatives to the death penal­ty pro­vide the cer­tain­ty and pun­ish­ment that many fam­i­lies need while keep­ing our com­mu­ni­ties safe. Critically, alter­na­tives ensure atten­tion is cast where it is need­ed most – on the sur­vivors – and not on sen­sa­tion­al tri­als or sus­pects.

As mur­der vic­tim fam­i­ly mem­bers we also share the same con­cerns as oth­er Americans with the death penal­ty. We are con­cerned about inno­cent peo­ple being sen­tenced to death, about racial and eco­nom­ic dis­par­i­ties and about arbi­trari­ness. But for us the stakes are high­er because an inno­cent per­son might be exe­cut­ed in a mis­guid­ed attempt to give us jus­tice. Losing one inno­cent life to mur­der is one too many, the tak­ing of anoth­er inno­cent life because of the first is beyond com­pre­hen­sion.

Those who argue for the death penal­ty often claim to do so on behalf of us, the vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. They say it will give us ​“clo­sure.” We don’t want the death penal­ty, and clo­sure is a myth. Every vic­tim, every time needs help, under­stand­ing, resources, and sup­port. We don’t need more killing.

Since 1981, the Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crimes has helped lead com­mu­ni­ties through­out the coun­try in their observances of

. Rallies, can­dle­light vig­ils, and a host of com­mem­o­ra­tive activ­i­ties are held each year to pro­mote vic­tims’ rights and to hon­or crime vic­tims and those who advo­cate on their behalf.

(MVFHR, MVFR, and Journey of Hope Statement, April 19, 2007). See