Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights Office Fire

On August 24th there was a fire in the building owned by the American Friends Service Committee in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights has its office. The fire broke out in the basement around 3:00 in the morning and was probably caused by an electrical problem. Fortunately, the building had an alarm system that was tied directly to the fire station so Cambridge firefighters were able to respond quickly. Through their skillful work, they managed to contain most of the fire to the basement.

Thankfully, no one was injured. Everyone who works in or is associated with 2161 Massachusetts Avenue is grateful to the firefighters for their efforts.

We have lost a fair amount of MVFHR inventory and materials that were in the basement: newsletters, reports, training materials, banners, t-shirts, buttons, and archived files. Our office on the first floor, while apparently intact, has, like the rest of the building, suffered intense smoke damage. As I write, the building is stable but toxic; clean-up and other recovery work should be well underway soon. At this point, we don't know to what extent our files, materials, furniture, and equipment have been damaged, but our important information is backed up and we will be able to recover it should our equipment not be salvageable.

Obviously this is a bit of a challenge for MVFHR, AFSC, and the other social justice organizations with whom we share a common home. MVFHR is fortunate to have a wonderful staff that manages time and again to rise to challenges, and I know that Priscilla Caputo, Kate Lowenstein, Susannah Sheffer, Catherine Brady, and I will be working together to make the adjustments necessary to go forward and carry out MVFHR's work. While the clean-up and recovery are being carried out, we are working from our homes, retrieving and responding to mail, email, and phone messages, and continuing to perform our ongoing program work.

We appreciate the outpouring of support from the MVFHR family – our board of directors, our members and supporters, and our human rights colleagues – and we gratefully welcome financial contributions that will help us reprint some of the materials that the fire destroyed.

In solidarity,
Renny Cushing, for the MVFHR staff

To donate money to Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, please go to murdervictimsfamilies.org.

Families of victims and families of the executed gather to launch national project

Washington, DC – Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) launched a national project opposing the death penalty for persons with severe mental illnesses at a press conference and remembrance ceremony in San Antonio, Texas on October 3.

The initiative builds on a series of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that eliminate the death penalty for people with intellectual disabilities and juvenile offenders and raise serious concerns about executing people with severe mental illnesses. A national report on the issue will be released in June 2009, based in part on testimony from family members at San Antonio event.

Amanda and Nick Wilcox, who traveled to the conference from California, said they believe the man responsible for killing their 19-year-old daughter Laura must be held accountable for his actions, “but to execute him for an act he committed while delusional with a severe disease is, to us, simply wrong.”

Lois Robison said she has been waiting almost 25 years for an initiative like the one being launched today. Lois’s son Larry, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was discharged from the hospital because his insurance had run out. Warned that their son was not well and would get worse without treatment, the Robisons continued to seek a hospital placement for him but were told that he would only be admitted if he became violent. After four years without treatment, Larry killed five people. “We were horrified, and terribly distressed for the victims and their families,” Lois sa id. “We thought Larry would finally be committed to a mental institution, probably for life. We were wrong.” Larry was executed in Texas in 2000.

Renny Cushing, director of the national organization Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, said victims have an obvious stake in the death penalty debate. “The people here bring the voice of experience to the question of executing offenders with severe mental illness,” he said. “They have suffered horrendous losses and they are saying that executions are not the answer to the problem of mental illness.”

As the nation’s largest grassroots organization dedicated to helping individuals and families affected by mental illnesses, the National Alliance on Mental Illness agreed to collaborate with the victims’ group because “we believe the execution of individuals with severe mental illness compounds the tragedy of violent crimes and serves no purpose in deterring similar crimes,” said Ron Honberg, the organization’s Legal and Policy Director. “The answer lies not in executing people who struggle with illnesses that are no fault of their own, but rather, in taking steps to prevent crimes from ever occurring.”

Media Advisory for Oct 3 Gathering in San Antonio of Victims' Families Opposed to Death Sentences for the Mentally Ill

MEDIA ADVISORY

For October 3, 2008

Who: Members of Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)

• Amanda Wilcox, mother of victim who was murdered by someone with mental illness
• Lois Robison, mother of mentally ill son who was executed in Texas
• Kim Crespi, mother of victims murdered by her husband, who suffers from mental illness
• Bill Babbitt, MVFHR board of directors, brother of mentally ill man who was executed
• Renny Cushing, MVFHR Executive Director
• Ron Honberg, NAMI Legal and Policy Director
• 20 families of victims and families of the executed from around the U.S.

What: Event marking the official launch of collaborative project between national organizations Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights and National Alliance on Mental Illness opposing the death penalty for persons with severe mental illness. Public testimony from families of victims killed by persons with severe mental illness and families of persons with severe mental illness who have been executed, followed by remembrance ceremony in which participants from around the U.S. will honor their loved ones lost to murder or state execution.

Why: Texas ranks 47^th nationally in per capita spending in mental health care and 1^st nationally in number of executions carried out during the modern era. MVFHR, a national organization of family members of murder victims and families of the executed, and NAMI, the nation’s largest grassroots organization for people with mental illness and their families, chose Texas as the location to announce their new collaborative project in which victims’ families from around the U.S. will oppose death sentences for mentally ill offenders. Families of victims and families of the executed know the tragedy of murder, mental illness, and the death penalty first hand, and their testimony draws attention to a critically important issue in the death penalty debate and in the field of mental health.

When: Friday, October 3, 3:00-5:00 PM

Where: San Antonio, University of the Incarnate Word, Bonilla Science Hall auditorium, room 129, Hildebrande just west of the Broadway intersection