Since 1976, the state of Georgia has executed a total of 69 people. In 2016, Georgia executed nine people, setting two records. 1. The most people executed by Georgia in one year, and 2. The most executions that year in the United States.
Healing Justice In Georgia was formed by Episcopalians responding to a 2015 Episcopal Church resolution that expanded the church's 57-year-old opposition to capitol punishment by calling for total abolition of the death penalty.*
Healing Justice In Georgia is comprised of members from throughout Georgia. Its immediate work is to take actions that ultimately achieve elimination of the death penalty in Georgia. However, members also have their eyes set on reform of our state's justice system.
Healing Justice seeks policies that eliminate evils such as mass incarceration of Georgia's poorest and most disenfranchised citizens. Healing Justice works to end dehumanizing conditions and policies in our justice system. It works to keep fellow human beings victimized by a for-profit probation system, privately run prisons and other policies that focus on retribution rather than restoration and reentry of confined people.
Healing Justice In Georgia also warmly welcomes and actively seeks to include in this work those of other faith traditions and those for whom faith is not central in their lives.
To find out more, email Healing Justice In Georgia * Resolved, That the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church reaffirm its longstanding call to put an end to the death penalty in recognition that the death penalty remains legal in thirty-one states and in federal jurisdictions with over 3,000 persons awaiting execution; and that the death penalty is disproportionately applied to the poor and to minorities and is in direct opposition to the witness of Jesus; and be it further Resolved, That this resolution be forwarded to governors in all states where the death penalty is legal, encouraging them to submit and support legislation in their respective states to abolish the death penalty; and be it further Resolved, That this resolution be forwarded to the bishops in all states where the death penalty is legal, encouraging them to appoint task forces of clergy and lay persons to develop a witness to eliminate the death penalty, and requesting that these bishops report back on their actions to the Standing Commission on Justice and Public Policy prior to the 79th General Convention.
Citation: General Convention, Journal of the General Convention of...The Episcopal Church, Salt Lake City, 2015 (New York: General Convention, 2015), p. 304.