Vigil marks the 1,000th U.S. execution
since 1976 death penalty reinstatement

Saturday, Dec. 3, 5:00 to 7:00PM
A candlelight vigil at the Washington State Capitol will commemorate the 1,000th person to be executed in the U.S. since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The vigil will be held on Saturday, December 3rd from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in Olympia on the western half of the State Capitol steps.
We invite you to participate for the full two hours, or for as much of this time as you can. You may stand, sit on the steps, or bring chairs. The vigil’s organizers will provide 1,000 small candles in clear plastic cups and will arrange them so as to protect the marble steps from any wax drippings. Please use the candles provided; do not bring your own.
In the 1972 Furman v. Georgia case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was being applied in such arbitrary and capricious ways that racial disparities and other injustices had become rampant. States (including Washington) rewrote their laws to tighten up the sentencing criteria and procedures. In the 1976 Gregg v. Georgia case, the U.S. Supreme Court approved the new methods. Although death penalty cases have become much more complex and expensive since then, so many inconsistencies and biases are still inherent in the death penalty process that racial and other injustices persist. The Supreme Court has accepted many of these injustices as routine aspects of our nation’s criminal justice system.
The vigil is sponsored by the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (WCADP), P.O. Box 3045, Seattle WA 98114, (206) 622-8952 (info@abolishdeathpenalty.org or www.abolishdeathpenalty.org) and the Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation's (FOR) Committee for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
For additional information contact Glen Anderson at (260) 491-9093, or glen@olywa.net.