Don’t Kill in Our Names: Families of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty

Families of murder victims are often ardent and very public supporters of the death penalty. But the people whose stories appear in this book have chosen instead to forgive their loved ones’ murderers and many have developed personal relationships with the killers and have even worked to save their lives. They have formed a nationwide group, Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation (MVFR), to oppose the death penalty. MCFR members are often treated as either saints or lunatics, but the truth is that they are neither. They are ordinary people who have responded to an extraordinary and devastating tragedy with courage and faith, choosing reconciliation over retribution, healing over hatred. Believing that the death penalty is a form of social violence that only repeats and perpetuates the violence that claimed the lives of their loved ones, they hold out the hope of redemption even for those who have committed the most hideous crimes. Weaving third-person narrative with fist-hand accounts, this text presents the stories of ten MVFR members. Each is a tale of grief, soul searching and of the challenge to choose forgiveness instead of revenge. These stories, which the author sets in the context of the national discussion over the death penalty debate and restorative versus retributive justice, should appeal not only to those who oppose the death penalty, but also to those who strive to understand how people can forgive that which might seem unforgivable.