Alternative Spring Breaks are designed to give college and high school students something more meaningful to do during their week off, rather than just spending time at the beach or sitting at home catching up on school work. The specific purpose of this Alternative Spring Break is to provide five days of anti-death penalty activism, education and entertainment. This is the place to be if you want to become a part of the next generation of human rights leaders.  Go to the beach to change your state of mind for a week, come here to change the world forever.

We will provide participants with workshops led by experienced, knowledgeable presenters who will teach them skills that they can use to go back home and set up new anti-death penalty student organizations or improve ones that may already exist. The skills participants will learn can also be used in other issues besides the death penalty.

Students will gain valuable training and experience in grassroots organizing, lobbying, preparing a direct action and media relations. During the week, students will immediately put what they learn into action during activities such as a Death Penalty Issues Lobby Day and a public rally at the Texas Capitol. There will be opportunities to write press releases, speak in public, meet with legislators or their aides, and carry out a public rally.

Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break is a program of Students Against the Death Penalty, Texas Moratorium Network, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Campaign to End the Death Penalty - Austin Chapter, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement and Texans Against the Death Penalty. Co-sponsors include Campus Progress, Witness to Innocence and Journey of Hope ... From Violence to Healing.  

Now is one of the most critical times ever to learn about and organize against the death penalty.

In Sept 2009, we learned from a state-funded report that Texas executed Todd Willingham for arson/murder even though the fire was not arson it was just a fire, so Texas executed an innocent person.

Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, could lose her job based on testimony at her recent trial on charges of incompetence and misconduct for saying “we close at 5″ on Sept 25, 2007 when lawyers called her court to submit a late appeal for a person later executed that same day.

Texas leads the nation by far in number of executions. In 2009, Texas carried out almost 46 percent of all executions in the United States. Texas executed 24 people in 2009. There were a total of 52 executions in the U.S. in 2009. Since the U.S Supreme Court ruling in 1976 that allowed executions to resume after a four-year period during which they were considered unconstitutional, there have been 1188 executions in the United States (as of Dec 21, 2009). Texas has performed 447 of those executions, which amounts to about 37 percent of the national total. According to the 2000 census, Texas has only 7.4 percent of the nation's entire population.

Although the majority of the  participants will be students, it is also a good opportunity for young people who are not students to become active. There are after all lots of young people who for various reasons don't go to college, but who may want to do something against the death penalty. The events and workshops are also open to the general public of any age, although the housing is reserved for young people.

Participation in the Annual Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break is an invaluable experience. Participants will come away with firsthand knowledge of the anti-death penalty movement and a new understanding of how they can affect public policy. Plus, they will have an opportunity to form new friendships that could last a lifetime. During the spring break students will have plenty of free time to enjoy Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World and home of the University of Texas at Austin and the SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Festival, which takes place the same week as our alternative spring break.

Quotes About Spring Break

"This is an historical echo to what happened in the 1960s when people came down to the South during the Civil Rights Movement to help people register to vote, what they called freedom summers. This is very similar to what was going on back then, but here the issue is the death penalty."

Scott Cobb, president Texas Moratorium Network

"I wanted to do something more meaningful during my Spring Break. I figured this would be the place where I could do that."

Chaunte Sterling, graduate of Sam Houston State University, who attended the 2005 alternative spring break in her senior year.

"We all had a simple understanding of the problems with the death penalty and after coming here, we've learned so much in detail about what goes on with capital punishment," Martellaro said. "It's just been so educational, because we all are in agreement that it is wrong and there are problems with the system, and this has been so specific, with so much information, that it really strengthened my beliefs."

Angela Martellaro, high school student from Shawnee, Kansas, who attended the 2006 alternative spring break.

"Students and youth have played a critical role in every major struggle for civil and human rights in this nation. Ending the abomination of capital punishment is the calling of this generation. Just as before, student activists will likely determine the future of this issue. You must be part of the debate and the action."

Diann Rust-Tierney, Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

"Participants will have plenty of free time to meet new friends, see the sights of Austin, and take in a couple of SXSW events if they want to. At the same time they're having fun, they're doing something positive by taking action on one of the major human rights issues of our time"

Hooman Hedayati, who graduated from UT-Austin in 2009 and is president of Students Against the Death Penalty. He first attended alternative spring break in 2005 as a high school senior and went on to organize spring breaks during his four years at UT-Austin.

"I attended the TMN sponsored spring break as a junior in high school in 2005. I had just found out about it via the internet/website and follow up with a call. The person who answered the call was Scott Cobb. He arranged for me to ride along with another person to Austin. The SB was sponsored and coordinated very professionally—we stayed in UT dorms with a well-planned daily agenda. Everything I know about lobbying someone for a cause, press releases, media coverage, recruiting people to join a cause—I learned within the intense week. It also gave me a fantastic opportunity to participate in the Texas legislative/political process, an experience I would never have had. I also became familiar with an amazing group of people, who were willing to work so passionately for a cause they believed in. Currently, I am taking a year away from my undergraduate studies to pursue a development, sustainable energy and social empowerment project in Pakistan as a Clinton Fellow. In management of my projects, I draw upon similar ideas and practices I learned from the spring break event.  I have never had a second opportunity to participate in such an amazing spring break event since—I will keep this on my agenda for 2011 spring, however!"

Ambreen Rahman, who attended the 2005 alternative spring break as a high school senior. She is a studentat Columbia University, who is taking a year off from school to volunteer to bring solar energy lights to women in rural Pakistan.  She was a Clinton Global Initiative University Fellow for 2008 and 2009. 

Click here for a look back at the previous Alternative Spring Breaks