The Justice Project has built its success on the accomplishments of its founders.
In 1980, these individuals started the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation — now Veterans for America — an international humanitarian organization that addresses the causes, conduct and consequences of war through advocacy and service programs for victims of conflict around the world. In 1997 VVAF’s work on the International Campaign to Ban Landmines was recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize.
Since 1999, The Justice Project has led several national and state campaigns that have produced significant reforms to the criminal justice system, including the death penalty. Below are some examples of our success.
National Work
Ensuring Passage of the Innocence Protection Act
TJP led a five-year campaign to pass the Innocence Protection Act (IPA), the first federal death penalty reform legislation to pass Congress and be signed into law. The IPA includes funding for the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program, which provides funding for DNA testing of individuals who may have been wrongfully convicted. The law also provides significant funds to help improve the quality of representation in capital cases. TJP engaged in direct lobbying and generated widespread grassroots support for the IPA, while the TJP Education Fund generated significant media attention and coordinated communications among our allies.
Leading the Campaign to End the Juvenile Death Penalty
On March 1, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the juvenile death penalty in a landmark 5-4 decision in Roper v. Simmons. TJP coordinated a national campaign, “Kids Are Different,” to illustrate that kids are mentally, emotionally and physically different from adults and therefore less culpable for their actions. We united juvenile justice advocates and the criminal justice reform community to demonstrate to the Court and the public that a national and international consensus had evolved against the execution of juvenile offenders.
Promoting Adequate Counsel for All
In partnership with the Constitution Project and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, TJP helped launch the National Committee on the Right to Counsel. The counsel includes an extraordinary group judges, prosecutors, defenders, law enforcers and policymakers committed to improving the indigent defense system. We continue to work with the American Bar Association to support implementation of the standards in the ABA’s Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases.
Creating a National Climate for Reform
The Justice Project Education Fund creates a climate for criminal justice reform by educating the public about deficiencies in the criminal justice system, supporting litigation and reform efforts, highlighting cases of wrongful convictions, and promoting studies that raise awareness of broader systematic problems.
Preserving Habeas Corpus
The Justice Project successfully fought legislation in the 109th Congress that would have effectively eliminated federal review of criminal cases and increased errors and injustice in the criminal justice system. TJP recruited lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and engaged in extensive grasstops, grassroots, media and direct lobbying efforts to derail the habeas-stripping legislation and keep the courthouse doors open to prisoners who may have been wrongly convicted.
State Work
Georgia
Based on TJP’s efforts and the recommendations of a commission appointed by the State Supreme Court, Georgia lawmakers overwhelmingly approved legislation in 2003 creating the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council to assign and oversee lawyers who represent poor defendants. The bipartisan bill was championed by the House speaker and supported by the state’s judiciary. During the 2004 legislative session, state lawmakers approved an initial $23 million to fund the new statewide system, which was renewed in 2005. We continue to work with the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, the Southern Center for Human Rights, and state and local policymakers to ensure that the system lives up to its goal of quality representation for all.
Illinois
Following Gov. George Ryan’s announcement of a moratorium on executions in 2000, TJP collaborated with the Illinois Death Penalty Education Project (our sister organization) to reshape the death penalty debate in Illinois and highlight the growing concerns with the state’s — and the nation’s — capital punishment system. Our work in Illinois helped bring about Gov. Ryan’s sweeping commutations of Illinois’ death row in 2003. TJP also acted as a liaison to national death penalty organizations and worked with state lawmakers to ensure overwhelming passage of major death penalty reform in November 2003. The law contains more than 20 measures intended to respond to the troubling history of wrongful convictions in Illinois. The law also established the Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the reforms.
We use our experience and success in Georgia and Illinois to aid reform efforts in other states, including Texas and Tennessee.
