Call Governor Mike Parson TODAY to stop Missouri's execution of Marcellus Williams!
Critical Resistance is joining the Innocence Project today to defend their client, Marcellus Williams, whose execution is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, September 24.
Call Missouri Governor Mike Parson right now (before 5pm CST on Monday, September 23) and demand that the governor stop the execution of Marcellus Williams immediately.
For decades, study after study has found the same thing: the death penalty, like prisons in general, doesn’t make our communities safer.
Race, place and poverty determine who dies and who lives. The most significant factor in who gets the death penalty is race. You are most likely to receive the death penalty if you are Black and the person killed is white. Missouri is one of only a handful of states that carried out the death penalty in recent years. Missouri’s death penalty ranks fourth in the US, as the state of Missouri has executed 99 people since 1976 (and four of these executions happened in 2023 alone).
As prison industrial complex (PIC) abolitionists, we know that killing one person doesn’t make us safe. Maintaining the death penalty in 27 states, which the US is doing right now, doesn’t make us safe, and converting death sentences into life without parole sentences also doesn’t create true safety. In fact, we know that the whole prison system--and larger PIC--is in no way the answer to our problems. We need to say we don’t want this whole system, not just we don’t want this one moment in the system to play out this way.
Volunteer with CR's Prisoner Solidarity Phone Lines: Get trained up Sept 29 & Oct 13 and take on monthly volunteer shifts!
CR's next round of Prisoner Solidarity Phone Line trainings are fast approaching. You can volunteer from anywhere in the world (with access to the internet & a phone). Sign up now while there are still spots available.
New York: Join us for our second Abolition Block Party in Brooklyn on September 29!
After attending Part 1 of our Prisoner Solidarity Phone Line Volunteer training, join organizations from across NYC on Sunday, September 29 from 2-6pm EST for the third annual Abolition Block Party in Brower Park, Brooklyn! Free food, games, and propaganda for you to take with you.
This year, the theme is “no Cop Presidents, no Cop Cities, no Cops!” focused on providing a space for people to engage with local orgs and struggles that aim to end imprisonment, build inside outside solidarity, and end policing as part of a larger commitment to breaking down imperialist forces in the US — and engaging with these things beyond an election. In saying no to cops, we say yes to all the ways we build collective relationships and participate in organizing for a better, more revolutionary future. Participating organizations include: Recess Art, Critical Resistance NYC (CRNYC), Survived & Punished NY, Art Against Displacement, Queers Gambit, and more!
Are you a registered California Voter? Vote NO on Prop 36 & spread the word this election!
Proposition 36 is a new menace on the horizon in California that endangers the abolitionist gains of the past 2 decades. On the ballot this November, Prop 36 would expand criminalization & increase funding to the PIC, taking the state into a harsher tough-on-crime direction, and threatening our ability to make further necessary gains in our campaign to Close CA Prisons.
