Pennsylvanians Against the Death Penalty

10/10/2026

Sabrina Butler-Smith, death row survivor and PADP team member reflects:

"World Day means confronting a harsh reality - a society cannot call itself just while it continues to execute its citizens and treat state-sanctioned death as a spectacle.

As the first woman exonerated from death row in the United States, I am living proof of how deeply flawed this system is. I spent years facing death for a crime that never happened, and that trauma never truly leaves you.

Watching the news of botched ex*****ons in Tennessee is an agonizing trigger. It forces me to relive the nightmare, knowing exactly how close I came to that same fate. True justice shouldn't look like state-sponsored torture. It should honor the victims by seeking real truth, while allowing room for communities to heal. We need to move away from a culture of vengeance and instead build a world rooted in hope, strength, and genuine restoration."

Observed every 10 October, the World Day Against the Death Penalty unifies the global abolitionist movement and mobilizes civil society, political leaders, lawyers, public opinion and more to support the call for the universal abolition of capital punishment. On 10 October 2026 and 2027, the World D...

10/09/2026

Livestreaming the taking of a life by firing squad would only compound the cruelty of the death penalty. The death penalty does not make us safer. It is high time U.S. authorities end this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment once and for all.

10/06/2026

The complications behind Tennessee’s failed ex*****on of Christa Pike aren’t uncommon — and show how easily another botched ex*****on could occur, even as others are planned soon in Texas and Florida.

10/06/2026

6 days after not one, but two, failed attempts to execute , she has just regained consciousness.

Her prognosis remains unclear... nobody has survived two ex*****ons attempts the way she has. We remain cautiously optimistic about her condition.

Gov. Lee has rightly called off ex*****ons for the remainder of the year to allow for an independent investigation into Tennessee's ex*****on protocols. But he can and MUST go further.

"Commute Christa Pike's sentence to life without parole!"
📞 615-741-2001

10/05/2026

The modern death penalty in the United States emerged from court cases involving Georgia. Capital punishment should end because there is little recourse for the innocent.

10/05/2026

The man who oversaw two lethal injections in Oregon says it is time to revisit whether the death penalty makes sense at all, writes Noah Bernstein.

10/05/2026

10/02/2026

The attempted ex*****on of Christa Pike in Tennessee is a grotesque and deeply disturbing reminder of what happens when the government assumes the power to deliberately end a human life.

For Pennsylvanians Against the Death Penalty, this moment underscores the importance of continuing the public conversation about the death penalty, state power, human dignity, and the irreversible consequences of government-sanctioned ex*****ons.

The attempted ex*****on of Christa Pike in Tennessee is a grotesque and deeply disturbing reminder of what happens when the government assumes the power to deliberately end a human life.

09/30/2026

After 25 years on death row (for a crime he DID NOT commit) Justin Wolfe has returned home! We here at PADP have had the privilege of knowing Terri, Justin's Mom, for decades. In fact, we just saw her speak at the Annual fast and Vigil in front of fthe US Supreme Court. Death Penalty Action Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing
https://www.wral.com/news/ap/b23f0-judge-vacates-virginia-mans-murder-conviction-he-walks-free-after-25-years/
Welcome home, Justin!

A Virginia man’s murder conviction has been vacated, freeing him after 25 years in prison, including over a decade on death row. Justin Michael Wolfe was released Monday, three years after the key witness against him recanted. Wolfe accepted a plea deal on ma*****na and robbery charges for time s....