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Celia Ouellette is the founder and CEO of the Responsible Business Justice Initiative (RBIJ), an organization dedicated to abolishing the death penalty in the United States.
Before the World Day for the Abolition of the Death Penalty on October 10, the Reserve Bank of India will announce Latest batch Its business leaders have more than 150 signatories to the declaration against the death penalty. The declaration was released in May. Rock star CEOs such as Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic, Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post, Mike Novogratz of Galaxy Digital vowed to use their private Departmental power to influence U.S. legislators.
Ouellette traveled across the country to abolish the death penalty and has been working on criminal justice reform since 2006. As a criminal defense lawyer who defended prisoners and negotiated defense agreements for death row prisoners, she said that her conversation was difficult and clients faced very “bad” choices.
Al Jazeera’s senior commercial producer Radmilla Suleymanova spoke with Ouelette for the first time possibleShe found activists on the road recently in Columbus, Ohio, to understand what it feels like to work with Branson, why the death penalty is becoming a conservative cause and its sordid weakness.
*This interview has been edited for clarity.
Radmila Suleymanova: what is new? Why are you in Columbus, Ohio?
Celia Ollette: I was in Ohio, and then I went to Utah because they had big campaigns in two states. Both Republican governors have stated that they will sign a bill to abolish the death penalty. Although states with Republican governors have abolished the death penalty, such as New Hampshire, the governor has consistently vetoed it. Therefore, these will be the first Republican governors to sign the bill.
reply: That’s interesting. How did the abolition of the death penalty become a conservative enterprise?
company: The death penalty is a human problem. Conservatives are people. In terms of conservative values, the Pope has said that the death penalty violates Catholic teachings. The cost of the death penalty and what the government should pay is another problem for conservatives, and then you add the fact that we have and are putting innocent people on death row.
Supporting and even leading the conservative movement to abolish the death penalty has never opposed the death penalty bill, to support the death penalty bill, and then lead the death penalty bill.
reply: How about working with Richard Branson?
company: This is interesting, because someone like Richard Branson, you know he is a bit like a famous hippie CEO, but in fact, I think he overlaps with many more conservative and liberal business leaders. They meet on issues such as the death penalty, criminal justice reform, and even drug policy-discussing what the government’s scope of influence should be. Richard personally did a lot of work for this event. He is more than a nominal puppet. He spent a lot of time talking with people, calling people and telling them about the campaign. In this regard, he is sincere.
reply: What is the next step for RBIJ in the coming year?
company: I would love to sign contracts with 250 companies or 300 business leaders on October 10, 2022. At the request of business leaders, what we have to do is turn to support them and participate in activities in the United States and around the world.I think [US] President [Joe] Biden will listen to business leaders on why he should clear the federal death row instead of suspending the death penalty during his presidency.
reply: What is the process of cooperating with enterprises?
company: We signed the manifesto, and then we had a one-on-one dialogue with each of them, asking them what you want to do and where do you see your character-whether it’s more pressure or using your voice media platform, Or get involved behind the scenes and use this influence and social capital.
Joe DeLoss, founder of Hot Chicken Takeover, addressed business leaders and judicial activists at an event held at a restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, where lawmakers are facing increasing challenges. Pressure to abolish the death penalty [File: RBIJ]reply: How does this have an impact on the ground?
company: Well, except for the voices of victims, conservative voices, faith leaders, [and] The leaders of the colored communities, the legislators we are considering repealing the bill have to weigh the fact that executions are detrimental to the business.
reply: Do companies really put money on their lips?
carbon dioxide: Will companies withdraw from investment in states, for example, if they use executions, and they will prioritize states that do not use executions? To be honest, leaders do want to know which states are the worst offenders in terms of where the executions took place.
Of course, companies will still see their responsibilities to employees. But they will use political pressure. They said, “If we can lobby for ourselves, for our own benefit, then we should always lobby.” I don’t rule out companies with big moves. Investment companies and fund managers are now interested in discussing with us how to transfer capital flows in a restorative and harmless manner.
reply: How could it be harmful?
company: This is tricky because the state with the most executions and death sentences is the state with the longest history of lynching and marginalized communities of color. So you cannot punish individual communities; you must focus the pressure on government leaders who can create change. You can’t just force companies to withdraw from investment or choose to move to other places. I don’t think that success can be measured by this alone. This is a question we are often asked, and the answer is that it is much more complicated than refusing to invest in a particular place.
Protesters demanding an end to the death penalty unfolded banners before police arrested them outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., U.S. [File: Jason Reed/Reuters]reply: When the event was first launched in May, what was the biggest lesson?
company: I think we have learned that if you create a platform for companies to participate in it, they will flood in in droves. The appetite for meaningful participation in social and racial justice issues is huge. If you provide a clear way to do this in a real way, it’s like pushing the door open.
But we also learned that as a non-profit organization, we are limited by our fundraising ability. Therefore, if you shoot for the moon, you might catch it, but you still need 100 staff to coordinate the work. I have been dealing with death penalty cases in some of the most difficult areas in the United States, so this is a good question.
reply: What do you remember most at that time?
company: I remember talking to one of my clients, he just said: “Why is my choice so bad?” He has been facing the death penalty. He is a watchdog in the drug trade and was charged with murder under the felony murder rules.
reply: What are his options?
company: We negotiated a 20-year plea agreement for him. To be honest, this is the best death penalty case I have ever done in my career. This is the dirty weakness of the death penalty. We have heard of people on death row, we have heard of those who have been acquitted, but what we have not captured are the thousands of black youths who have been indicted on death charges and eventually pleaded.
reply: What kind of dialogue is that?
company: When you are a defense lawyer and you are sitting with a client, the option to roll the dice is that they are executed. This is a completely different conversation. It is difficult to underestimate the role of the death penalty in promoting mass incarceration in the United States. You just keep people in jail because you accuse them of murder. So from the beginning, if they go to trial, the death penalty will be on the table.
reply: Are all people facing the death penalty convicted of murder?
company: In the United States, you can only be sentenced to death for homicide, but under the felony murder rules, if a crime occurs as a felony, such as robbery, and someone is killed during the robbery, it doesn’t matter that you do not intend to kill but attempt to kill. Everyone involved in the felony is eligible to be sentenced to death by carrying a weapon without even knowing that someone has a murder weapon at the scene.
reply: Do you see this change?
company: For me, the end of the death penalty in the United States is inevitable. I mean, we have had a state almost every year for the past 15 years. Virginia is a huge victory. Virginia was the first southern state to abolish it. It has the bloodiest history.
reply: What are the important personal moments for you?
OC: I think for me, this is the moment I talk to clients and they are like “Why is my choice so bad?” I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t do anything about it”, and now it’s like nothing, actually I What can be done. That day when all those emails saying Arianna Huffington were there and Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook’s) was there, that day I was like, my goodness, I was doing something and this was happening. We have 150 of the most compelling names in business. They said that we did not kick canned food on the road, and we did not avoid this issue. You want to go back to that customer, as I did one thing to make the 2.0 version of your option not so bad.
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