The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 The Virginian example is considered to be particularly illustrative of the influential role exercised by CSOs, lobbying for the abolition of the death penalty both with politicians as well as the general public. This included representatives of such organizations travelling through the state’s key legislative districts, in particular trying to build support among conservative constituents of legislators serving on the House and Senate Courts of Justice Committee.43 Certain organizations focused on congressional lobbying and produced educational materials.44 The so-called “Journeys of Hope”45 are commonly also considered a cornerstone of the abolition movement in the United States and in Virginia. Victims’ family members, exonerees, and abolitionists would tour a state and talk at rallies and demonstrations about concerns relating to capital punishment, such as the possibility for miscarriages of justice, and conveying the reasons why many victims’ family members are opposed to the death penalty.46 Such events seem to have been particularly instrumental, first, for validating and energizing members of the abolitionist movement, and second, for enabling engagement with the community at large, in particular finding allies within communities of colour and religious organizations.47 A number of national organizations in fact focused on building support for abolition within the AfricanAmerican community, particularly with religious leaders and their congregations.48 The anti-death penalty coalition in Virginia also benefited from the support of a former executioner — who added his voice and personal direct experience, publicly recalling the toll that such a job took on him.49 Other grassroots organizations helped to publicize individual cases of the death penalty50 in order to elucidate some common misconceptions, for example regarding the fairness and reliability of the criminal 43 Interview with Michael E. Stone, op. cit., note 20. 44 The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP). 45 Murder Victims Families for Human Rights. 46 Interview with Mark Warren, former United States coordinator with the Canadian section of Amnesty International, 3 June 2021. 47 Ibid. 48 Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Other organizations who worked on abolition include: the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, the Virginia Catholic Conference, ACLU of Virginia, Rutherford Institute, Virginia State Conference NAACP, Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Office of Justice and Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Virginia Coalition for Juvenile Justice, Amnesty International USA, Virginia C.U.R.E., Legal Aid Justice Center. 49 Liliana Segura, The long shadow of Virginia’s Death Penalty, The Intercept, 11 April 2011; and Liliana Segura, The life and death of Jerry Givens, Virginia’s executioner-turned- abolitionist, The Intercept, 26 April 2020. 50 VASK – Virginians Against State Killings which subsequently changed its name to Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP); and Interview with Mark Warren, op. cit., note 46. 19