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Support for abolition in Kansas extends across the political spectrum
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OUR FEATURED POSTS

Reexamining Justice: How Restorative Principles Can End the Death Penalty in Kansas

August 23, 2023

  Speakers are Todd Lehman and Celeste Dixon.   Mr. Lehman is the Executive Director of Offender Victim Ministries of Kansas.  Ms. Dixon is a Kansas resident whose mother Marguerite was murdered in Texas.  The person charged with the murder was convicted and sentenced to death and ultimately executed.   Our panelists for this event will explore the question of justice in regards to homicide and what insights can be learned from re-examining justice in light of restorative principles.  How does the death penalty compound the loss experienced by the family of the murder victim?  Could restorative principles along with […]

The Kansas Death Penalty at 29: What do the years tell us?  

August 15, 2023

  On July 1st,  Kansas entered its twenty ninth year of a capital punishment law on the books again.   Passed by the legislature and allowed by Governor Joan Finney to become law without her signature, the bill was accompanied by many hopes and promises of its supporters.  “We’ll get it right and not be like those other states.”  “We’ll fund the public defense system.”  And, the one that still gets repeated from time to time “This is reserved for the ‘worst of the worst’.”   There are a good number of Kansans who remember the reinstatement fight of 1994 […]

OUR RECENT POSTS

“The death penalty has no place in Kansas”

2018 Abolition Conference panelists:  (left to right)  Bob Weeks, Floyd Bledsoe, Richard Ney   “The Kansas criminal justice system is too imperfect to trust it with the death penalty.  I know from spending over 16 years in a Kansas prison for a murder I didn’t commit until DNA … [ Read More... ]

Murder: It doesn’t have to end with another death

In 1994 when the Legislature was debating the reinstatement of the Kansas death penalty, proponents kept saying the tragedy of murder had to lead to another death via execution.  Murder victim family member Bill Lucero visited legislators and told them that it did not need to end that way.  He … [ Read More... ]

HB 2282: A Mother Speaks

“Because I did not have to deal with the death penalty the offender was sentenced closer to the time of the crime.  Then I began to deal with my loss because there were no longer court distractions and it still took me several years to recover to a new normal.” Wilma Loganbill, whose son was … [ Read More... ]

House Abolition Bill Achieves New Firsts!

House Bill 2282 was introduced on February 12th.  It has 32 sponsors—the most ever for a Kansas abolition bill!  There are 15 Republican sponsors and 17 Democratic sponsors.     A hearing was held on February 19th in House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee.  Twenty … [ Read More... ]

Death Penalty Abolition Legislation Introduced!

Bills to replace the Kansas death penalty have been filed in both the House and Senate. SB 21 was introduced on January 17th and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. HB 2282 was introduced on February 12th and referred to House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee. Both … [ Read More... ]