About the Team
A project powered by organizers, advocates, academics, and those directly impacted by felony murder laws.
About This Project
This website is for anyone who wants to learn more about the felony murder doctrine, intervene in its harmful effects, and resist the false narrative that public safety is achieved through long sentences and harsh punishment.
We focus on the felony murder doctrine because it gives the State broad power to impose extreme punishments based on a low burden of proof. This makes felony murder a powerful tool for pressuring people to accept plea deals. The felony murder doctrine has particular impacts on Black and brown people, survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, people with developmental disabilities, and young people. Many on our team have been directly impacted by felony murder laws, and have brought insights to this project through that lens.
We see the movement to end felony murder laws as aligned with broader movements toward addressing the harms caused by our criminal legal system. We see abolishing felony murder as a non-reformist reform, because it closes a front door to death-by-incarceration.
We believe that no one is disposable, and that banishment is not a solution to social problems. We believe that safety comes from creating a society that meets the needs of everyone. We believe that communities thrive when families are kept together. We know that most people who cause harm have also been harmed, and that there are more effective ways to achieve healing and accountability. Repealing felony murder laws represent one step towards ending the use of punishment policies that don’t work.
Thank you for being here.
Thank You
This project was co-designed by the Felony Murder Elimination Project, Free Hearts, the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. Our team included Alicia Burke, Mindy Dodd, Austin Frizzell, Grace Gámez, Caitlin Glass, Dawn Harrington, Lisa Logan, Liv Poulin, Joanne Scheer, Catherine Sevcenko, Nomi Sofer, Sonya Soni, Zaneta Sulley, Daniel Trautfield, and Jada X. Professor Kat Albrecht provided meaningful research insights and support.
Nazgol Ghandnoosh (The Sentencing Project) has been a critical co-partner in analyzing and categorizing felony murder statutes and interpreting research. We are grateful for her significant contributions to this work.
Several people substantially shaped and improved the content of this website by reviewing drafts and providing feedback. We extend our profound gratitude to: Marshan Allen (Illinois Prison Project); Liz Komar (The Sentencing Project); Colby Lenz, Tammy Cooper Garvin, and Christina Martinez (Survived & Punished); Grace Ortez.
Darren Mack and Megan French-Marcelin produced the powerful “Histories of Resistance, Healing as Resistance” section of this website. Eroc Arroyo-Montano and Grace Gámez co-created the spoken word poetry recording on the “resist” tab.
This project also benefited from the invaluable insights of several organizers, advocates, researchers, and scholars who met with our team in 2022-2023. Our work was informed and greatly enhanced by conversations with: Professor Rachael Barkow (NYU School of Law); Marco Barrios (Urban Justice Center); Diana Block (California Coalition for Women Prisoners); Olevia Mae; Nicholas Buckingham (Michigan Liberation); Jobi Cates (Restore Justice); Toni Cater and Linda Martinson (#FMLR); Kandra Clark (Exodus); Sarah Free and Jennifer Soble (Illinois Prison Project); Ivelisse Gilestra; Maria Goellner (FAMM); Cynthia Goldberg (Coalition to End Life Without Parole); Bret Grote (Abolitionist Law Center); Mallory Hanora (Families for Justice as Healing); Natalie Holbrook (American Friends Service Committee-MI); Margot Isman and Bianca van Heydoorn (Youth Sentencing and Reentry Project); Marquis Jenkins (Common Justice); Professor Aliza Kaplan (Lewis & Clark Law School); Alisha Kohn (Newburgh LGBTQ+ Center); Avis Lee (Lets Get Free); Sue Mason; Professor Perry Moriearty (University of Minnesota Law School); Katy Naples-Mitchell; Kristen Nelson and Dan Meyer (Spero Justice); Ashlee Sellars (Raphah); Emily Shelton (Hooked on Justice); Professor David Singleton (University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law); Laura Whitehorn (Release Aging People in Prison); Professor Steve Zeidman (CUNY Law School); and Members of We Are Joint Venture and the Harriet Tubman Project.
We are profoundly grateful to Tyrone Dixon and Claudia Bolgen for their efforts to highlight the racially disparate impact of Massachusetts’s felony murder rule, which helped spark this project.
For research assistance and project support, we thank Fatima Elmansy, Helina Haile, Hana Manadath, Lucia Martinez, Lina Saleh, Will Stoll, and associates from the law firm Brown Rudnick.
Funding for our work was generously provided by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Barr Foundation, and the Marguerite Casey Foundation. This website was designed by Zealous.
Finally, we acknowledge every person who has been impacted by violence and criminalization. May we build towards a world that offers safety, justice, and healing for all.