Veteran Abolitionist, Civil Rights Lawyer Takes Over Helm at NCADP
Aug. 18, 2004 - The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty announced today that Diann Rust-Tierney will join the Coalition as its new executive director.
Since 1991 Rust-Tierney has served as director of the Capital Punishment Project
for the American Civil Liberties Union. As
ACLU's lead strategist and spokeswoman on the death penalty, she helped develop
and coordinate national strategy on capital punishment. Her efforts included
expanding efforts to educate the public about the problems associated with
the death penalty and building broad coalitions with new partners to help spread
the abolitionist message.
"Diann brings to us the vision and experience to strengthen our movement," said Brenda Lewis, chair of the NCADP Board of Directors, in announcing Rust-Tierney's appointment. "NCADP has a dedicated staff that in recent years has been responsible for a number of successes. With Diann's leadership we believe we can continue to build a national consensus that the death penalty is wrong, both morally and as a matter of public policy."
Rust-Tierney said her goals as NCADP's executive director will include making sure that NCADP affiliates continue to play an essential role in educating the public about the death penalty and in pressing for abolition and other reforms. She also pledged that NCADP will build upon its recent successes at state legislative advocacy and expand its efforts to organize against the death penalty within a national and international human rights framework.
"The abolition movement is turning a corner," Rust-Tierney said. "Both the number of executions and the number of death sentences is on the decline. Organizations that traditionally have not taken a stand on capital punishment are speaking up. With the help of new, diverse voices and a more powerful array of activists, we can and will begin to move abolition bills through the state legislatures."
Rust-Tierney received her undergraduate degree in political science from the College of Wooster in Ohio and her law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. She replaces Steven W. Hawkins as NCADP's permanent executive director. She will assume her duties at NCADP in early September.
Last year, NCADP launched its "Campaign to End Juvenile Executions" and has worked to build diverse coalitions against the juvenile death penalty. NCADP also publishes the monthly "Execution Alert," which documents the case of every person facing execution in the United States and recently launched the Legislative Action Center, which enables opponents of the death penalty to contact their state legislators to comment on pending legislation.
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty was founded
in 1976 and is the only fully-staffed national organization
devoted specifically to abolishing the death penalty. NCADP is
comprised of more than 100 local, state, national and international
affiliates.
