Spring 2001: Does Capital Punishment Have a Future? Participants Rick Halperin Rick Halperin has been involved with Amnesty International USA since 1971. He has worked with various international, national, and state organizations to abolish the death penalty since 1976. He regularly meets with and addresses international human rights groups around the world about death penalty issues. He addressed the European Parliament in 1994. Also in 1994, Dr. Halperin founded and continues to participate annually in an 4-day hunger fast and vigil on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to commemorate the 1972 suspension and the 1976 re-legalization of capital punishment in America. In 1997, Dr. Halperin organized and participated in the largest nonviolent civil disobedience action against the death penalty at the U.S. Supreme Court. He organized a nation-wide civil disobedience and protest in 1998 in recognition of the 500th execution in the USA. Vigils and protests were held in 28 states and 17 countries around the world. Dr. Halperin is administrator of Death Penalty News and Updates web page. He is currently President of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Dr. Halperin is a member of the board of directors of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and of the Capital Punishment Investigation and Education Services. He also serves on the Amnesty International USA Program to Abolish the Death Penalty National Advisory Committee. He received the Amnesty International Frederick Douglas Abolitionist Award in 2000. He holds a Ph.D in Southern History from Auburn University. Dr. Halperin is a member of the History Department at Southern Methodist University since 1985, where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate classes in Human Rights, the Old South, and Racial and Constitutional History. Amnesty International USA Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the U.S. Section of the international human rights organization Amnesty International. Amnesty International works to: Free all prisoners of conscience detained anywhere for their beliefs or because of their ethnic origin, sex, color or language -- who have not used or advocated violence Ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners Abolish the death penalty, torture and other cruel treatment of prisoners End extrajudicial executions and “disappearances.” Amnesty International has called for the immediate and unconditional global abolition of the death penalty. It has also called on all states within the United States to abolish the death penalty. Death Penalty News and Updates Co-administered by Professor Halperin, this site is used as an information source by representatives of the media and the U.S. Departments of State and Justice. Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) is a grassroots Texas organization comprised of individuals and groups who work to end the death penalty in all cases, everywhere. Read Rick Halperin's chat transcript. Back to Participants Spring 2001 Summit Home | Learning Links & Readings Student Activities| Participants | Transcripts National Online Youth Summit Home