The Abolitionist Action Committee (AAC) is an ad-hoc group of individuals committed to highly visible and effective public education for alternatives to the death penalty through nonviolent direct action. The primary focus on the AAC is engaging people outside the U.S. Supreme Court, most notably through the annual "Starvin' for Justice: Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty" each summer, and an every-five-year action of non-violent civil disobedience in January to mark the anniversary of the first U.S. execution in the modern era of the death penalty, January 17, 1977.

The informal committee of activists was founded in Dallas, Texas. in 1994 by human rights historian Dr. Rick Halperin and two murder victim family members, Bill Pelke and Marietta Jaeger-Lane. Since 2017, Death Penalty Action has managed the events of the AAC as one of its programs.



Learn more about our main events:

THE FAST AND VIGIL EVERY JUNE 29-JULY 2

Fast & Vigil logo

Each year from June 29 through July 2 hold our "Starvin' for Justice: Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty" outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC. Learn about it here and join us each summer.

DIRECT ACTION
EVERY 5 YEARS
ON JANUARY 17



Every 5 years we risk arrest in nonviolent civil disobedience on Supreme Court steps in Washington, DC to mark the anniversary of first execution in modern era. Our most recently action took place in January 2022 on the 45th anniversary. Learn more here, and if the Supreme Court continues to fail us, prepare for a repeat in 2027.


The actions of the AAC are a program of Death Penalty Action, which have even more opportunities for engagement on the issue. Go here for more.

Want to get involved and join our work? Sign up now!

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