Welcome to TCASK
By Stacy Rector
Executive Director
Tennessee’s death penalty system is fatally flawed. Our state has the 10th largest death row in the country with 95 people—almost all of whom could not afford their own attorneys at the time of their trial—while Tennessee’s public defenders have the highest caseloads in the country. Millions of dollars are expended from the state’s budget on death penalty cases—money, which could be better spent on victims’ compensation funds and law enforcement. Paul House served 23 years on Tennessee's death row, even though the U.S. Supreme Court stated in June 2006 that no juror, given the new evidence in the case, would have ever convicted him. In fact, 130 people have been exonerated nationwide since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.
The death penalty only creates more victims, continues the vicious cycle of violence, and is based on the false assumption that vengeance can heal. We, at the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing, do not want the state to take a human life in our name or in the name of justice; therefore, we are committed to the goal of abolishing the death penalty in Tennessee through grassroots organizing among individuals, faith communities, and other institutions and organizations.
Currently, TCASK has over 5,000 members and eight chapters across the state in Memphis, Hutchison High School, Nashville, Nashville Students, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Jackson, and Clarksville. TCASK public activities include rallies and vigils, educational forums, speakers’ bureaus, lobbying work, letter writing campaigns, and fundraising events. In 2006, TCASK hosted its first Justice Day on the Hill, bringing together over 60 Tennesseans from across the state to lobby their legislators about the death penalty. In 2008, TCASK hosted its second Student Conference on the Death Penalty, bringing 120 students and professors from across the state to learn more about this policy.
Because we cannot do this work alone, TCASK’s partners with a variety of organizations such as the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Equal Justice USA, Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, the Journey of Hope, the NAACP, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Tennessee Justice Project, the ACLU, and the Catholic Public Policy Commission.
And, we need you. TCASK asks for your support to achieve our goal of ending the death penalty. Together, we can abolish the death penalty in Tennessee. Email us at tcask@tcask.org or call us at 615-256-3906 to join us in the struggle.
