Mucahit Bilici is an assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is the author of Finding Mecca in America and a columnist for Taraf, a daily publication in Turkish.

Onleilove (pronounced “only love”) Alston is the executive director at Faith in New York, a coalition of 70 congregations in New York City. She is a social justice activist and an expert on black lives in the Bible. She recently participated in a panel sponsored by PICO National Network about the black church and the […]

Bryan Miller is executive director of Heeding God’s Call, a grass-roots, faith-based movement to prevent gun violence. His brother was one of three law enforcement officers killed in a massacre at a police station in 1994. Miller chaired the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s panel that wrote its denominational policy on gun violence. Heeding God’s Call is based […]

Equal Justice USA is a secular grassroots organization that works to end the death penalty and redirect criminal justice resources toward crime prevention at the community and state levels. The group has a staff member who does outreach to religious conservatives, especially evangelicals. Shari Silberstein is executive director.

Heather Beaudoin is a national organizer for Equal Justice USA, a grassroots organization that focuses on repealing the death penalty. She handles the organization’s outreach to conservative religious groups and has experience with evangelicals. She is based in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty advocates for elimination of the death penalty because it conflicts with Catholic teachings about the sanctity of life. The organization has offices in Washington, D.C., and at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md. Karen Clifton is executive director.

Read a July 23, 2014, Los Angeles Times story about Arizona’s execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood III. Wood’s lawyers thought he was gasping for breath for more than 90 minutes, while others said he was snoring.