The holidays are upon us, and there is much to celebrate!

Because of your generosity, TADP has made great strides in limiting the death penalty’s scope while our state hasn’t carried out an execution since 2020! We are now at a crossroads with significant opportunities to further limit the death penalty and to create a new public safety model for Tennessee.

With your gift today, TADP will build upon our progress to create a safer and more just state for all of us without relying on a failed death penalty system to get us there.

TADP’s ongoing work has made it apparent to us that if Tennesseans truly want to embrace a culture that promotes life and public safety for all, we must not only focus on ending the death penalty but also on healing, crime prevention, and investing in trauma informed solutions to address violence. To reflect this expanded focus, TADP’s Board of Directors officially updated our mission statement to read: Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty works to honor life by abolishing the death penalty, preventing violence, and supporting those who experience harm.

TADP is strengthening relationships with important allies to fight the death penalty, educating the public and lawmakers alike about the failure of “tough on crime” policies, and promoting evidence-based solutions to prevent crime, to address harm, and to create a new narrative around public safety.

To that end, TADP Community Outreach Coordinator Rafiah Muhammad-McCormick will conduct a statewide campaign in 2024, in partnership with Mothers Over Murder, to educate victims of violence about how to access support from the Tennessee Criminal Compensation Fund while we advocate for legislative changes to make the fund more accessible to more Tennesseans. Research suggests that those who do harm were often once victims themselves, reinforcing our belief that better victims’ support can contribute to crime reduction.

Tennessee Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty Director Jasmine Woodson is partnering with conservative allies on violence prevention initiatives while lifting up the disconnect between the current death penalty system and the conservative values of fiscal responsibility, limited government, and pro-life policies to move conservatives away from the death penalty.

And, TADP will also continue to tell Tennesseans about the other failures of the death penalty system, including the endemic racism, the real risk of executing the innocent, and the human and financial costs of maintaining a broken system that does not make us safer and traps surviving family members of murder victims in a legal process for decades, making their healing reliant on what happens to those who have cause them harm.

We can do better. We must do better. And with your support, we will do better.

Thank you from all of us at TADP! Happy Holidays!!!