Competition info!

This brilliant video was sent to us by artychic500 for our "Ideas in Motion" competition. We thought we'd post it here to inspire you! So far, support for the competition does not look particularly promising - which is a little disapointing considering everybody was excited about it BEFORE we launched... Come on guys! This is your chance to make your mark. It's all very well and good saying you want to stop the death penalty, but sometimes you've just got to roll up your sleeves and put a bit of effort into it! On top of this, you could win a fabulous prize - if enough people enter, we're in talks about a superstar code for the winner. Can't get much better than this, and if nobody enters this one, don't think we'll be having many more big competitions any time soon. Hint hint.

So get creating! See the post before this one for details on entry requirements, and feel free to email us if you have any questions. We can be contacted on Stardoll (..Dark_Angel.. and ScofieldBurrows) or directly at deathwatchstardoll@hotmail.co.uk

Well done to artychic500, and good luck to you and every other entrant!

Ideas in Motion - Our first BIG competition!

Raise your voice against the death penalty in Death Watch; Stardoll’s first BIG competition!


Our perceptions of important issues are significantly shaped by the media. The same rule applies to the death penalty. That’s why we’re launching our first big competition – to make a short film about the death penalty and why we oppose it.


Your task:
To make a short film demonstrating one or more reasons for opposing the death penalty

The Big Rules:
1. Your film must be at least 1 minute long but no longer than 2 minutes. Hence the short part.
2. You must mention Death Watch; Stardoll somewhere in the movie. It doesn’t have to be much, just mention that we’re against the death penalty, to support us, etc.
3. You must be a member of Stardoll, and a member of our Stardoll club No_DeathPenalty to enter.
4. You must be comfortable for us to put your video on our blog and possibly our YouTube channel. So if you don’t want your real name or face on the video, don’t put them there :)

Everything else is not compulsory but advisory (see the Do’s and Don’ts)


How to enter:
Once you’ve finished your masterpiece, email it to us at: deathwatchstardoll@hotmail.co.uk

If you’ve made your video on Windows Movie Maker, you MUST PUBLISH THE FILE before sending it to us (on Movie Maker, click on file, publish movie, and then follow the steps). Otherwise we won’t be able to see it!
If you’ve having trouble emailing it to us, tell us and we’ll try to work out an alternative way for you to enter your work.

Along with your video, please fill out the following entry form and email to us. (Fields marked with a * are compulsory. The rest is optional.)

Stardoll Name *:
Real (first) Name:
Age:
Country:
Title of your video *:


The Do’s and Don’ts:

DO show creativity, originality, and powerful ideas
DON’T be rude or offensive in any way

DO feel free to expand on any ideas/themes touched upon in our sample video, or other videos you may have seen
DON’T plagiarize (copy). We are not stupid – we will know, and you will be disqualified. Straight lifts from our video are not acceptable. Expand on ideas, but don’t steal them.

DO feel free to use clean music and/or clips from any TV shows, films, etc.
DON’T let clips/music overwhelm the central ideas of your film.
And
DON’T use footage of real-life death row inmates or executions. Such things can be found on the web, but we don’t want that. You CAN mention cases (e.g. we showed a picture of Todd Willingham, who we believe was innocent and executed). But don’t use any media which could be deemed as upsetting or disrespectful. The death penalty is disturbing without seeing it live.

DO email us if you have any questions or want to know more about anything
DON’T bully or intimidate any other entrants. Such behaviour could result in your disqualification from the competition


The Prizes:
We have not yet decided on a prize yet. We are CONSIDERING a superstar membership on Stardoll as first prize. But this is not definite. This would cost us real money, a thing we are only willing to do if a substantial number of people enter. The size of the prize depends on how many people enter – you’ve got to be in it to win it, as they say!

The Deadline:
Again, we’re not sure yet. It will be AT LEAST one month from now, possibly longer. We understand this is a big task and so we’re setting a very broad closing date. We will update you when we come up with an absolute date.


Finally, keep it tasteful, keep it powerful, and the best of luck to anyone entering!

Our new YouTube channel!

Death Watch; Stardoll is proud to unveil it's brand new YouTube channel!


http://www.youtube.com/user/DeathWatchStardoll



2010 will hopefully see Death Watch; Stardoll really getting hands-on in the ongoing struggle against the death penalty. Last year, we slowly got the organization established. In less than a year, we've seen over 400 people join the cause which is a massive achievement. Now we strive ever onwards! Remember, what is right is not always what is easy, and it will be a very difficult thing indeed to make the world see sense.


The YouTube channel will be a place for us to put videos sent into our upcoming competition (don't think we'd forgotten!) as well as much else.
If you create something you would like to see put on the channel, email it to us and if it's good we'll put it up. Send vids to deathwatchstardoll@hotmail.co.uk


This year, let's show the world we mean business :)

Say NO to hared this Valentine's Day!

We're launching a mini campaign this Valentine's Day to promote love over hatred, and hatred is - essentially - what the death penalty stands for, so we say 'NO' to that too!

This Valentine's Day, make sure you say you love them to somebody special. Whether you're alone like me this year, are sharing it with a life-long partner, or someone you met last week, you can get involved! Whether it's your boy/girlfriend, husband or wife, best friend, parents, brother or sister, or even your cat, make sure you let them know how special they are to you! Hell, if you can't say it on Valentine's, right?

Let's all get involved this year! Send in photos of your Valentine's message (like the one I took last night - see above!) to us, and we'll put them all together on a special video to promote this simple message! You don't have to show your face if that makes you uncomfortable - do what I did! And if you're dedicating your message to someone special, first name's are okay but no last names thanks! :)

Our email address is:

deathwatchstardoll@hotmail.co.uk

We look forward to seeing your pics! And if you have any ideas about what song should go in the background of the video, tell us!

Don't forget to spread the love below by commenting!!! :)

Death Watch International's Bin it! campaign - Focus on Uganda

I've told you before about the Bin It! campaign run by Death Watch International, and this month the campaign is focussing on Uganda.

As you may have heard, Uganda has caused almost worldwide controversy over it's recent addition of homosexuality to the list of capital offences there. This means being gay is now punishable by death. I hate to be judgemental, but that is seriously messed up.

I'd just like to urge you to take a moment of your time to help the campaign and hopefully preasure Uganda to stick the death penalty in the trashcan of history!!!

It's really easy to do you bit! Just email or write to the ambassador of Uganda and POLITELY tell him that you think he should 'bin' the death penalty. Optionally, attach a piece of virtual trash to your email or stick a real bit in the envelope, and ask him to bin it along with the death penalty (but nothing harmful or offensive. Seriously). Keep your message short and sweet, and don't be rude! It doesn't help matters, believe me.

If you're stuck for ideas, here is what ScofieldBurrows emailed the ambassador:

Dear Mr Ambassador,
Your Excellency, I write to you with the very grave matter of your country's use of the death penalty on my mind. The death penalty is an outdated and barbaric practice which belongs in the past. I urge you to please reconsider the death penalty in your country, especially for homosexuality. Join the rest of the modern world and stop the death penalty.
Thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely,
(Your name)

Why not copy that, or write something of your own!

ScofieldBurrows has emailed His Excellency and I've written a letter, and we've jointly emailed him on behalf of Death Watch; Stardoll, but we'd love it if more people from our organization got involved! Take a stand! Make a difference!

Here are His Excellency's contact details if you want to help:

His Excellency Dr Ruhakana Rugunda
Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary
Permanent Mission of Uganda to the United Nations
336 East 45th Street, New York, NY 10017
USA

E-mail: info@ugandamissionunny.net

[If you send an email - please put the Ambassador's name in the subject line.]


For more info, visit:
http://www.deathwatchinternational.org/do_something.php

But please consider getting involved! Sending an email only takes 2 minutes! There's too much injustice in this world, and too many people turn a blind eye to it, that's why it continues. Don't be one of them.

Oh, and seriously, don't be at all offensive. I can't stress that enough. Smile and the world smiles with you :)

A homegrown video

In light of our proposal to hold a competition for the best homemade short-film against the death penalty, we, the directors of Death Watch; Stardoll, decided to make our own, to give you an idea about what the hell we're talking about!

Unfortunately, ScofieldBurrows has exams in just over a fortnight and was unable to take time from her revision to make her own video, so we combined ideas and I made this!

After deciding what to do, the entire video took a little over one hour to make, including the photography involved, and that's because I'm a perfectionist. It doesn't take much time or effort to make a one-minute movie :)

The song is 'Mad World' if you're wondering. I forget who it's by.

Enjoy!

2009 and the Death Penalty

A brief overview of the death penalty in the US last year

2009 was a turbulent year for the death penalty. Between the economic crisis, the botched execution of Romell Broom and, of course, the uproar over the execution of the recently-deemed-innocent Todd Willingham, eleven states considered abolishing the death penalty, with one actually doing so.

2009 had the fewest death sentences since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 – only 106 new inmates were sent to death row compared to the 111 sentences in 2008, and the incredible 328 sentences of death in 1994. The number of death sentences has been steadily declining for 7 years now. The drop is especially noticeable in Texas – this year, only 9 death sentences were passed as opposed to the average of 34 per year during the 90’s. Only 11 of the 35 states upholding the death penalty carried out an execution in 2009.

The decline can mostly be attributed to the economic crisis. With states facing severe budget deficits, the cost of pursuing even one capital case almost certainly swayed some prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. In a national poll released in 2009, the nation’s police ranked the death penalty last in their priorities for effective crime reduction, as they did not believe it acted as deterrent to murder and thought it was one of the least efficient uses of tax dollars in the fight against crime.

Despite this, the number of actual executions rose since 2008 (probably due to the 4 month long de facto moratorium of 2008 when the Supreme Court addressed the controversy surrounding lethal injection). 52 inmates, all male, were executed in the United States in 2009, 51 by lethal injection and one via the electric chair. Only 37 sentences were carried out the previous year. The Southern states accounted for 45 out of 52 executions (87%), with Texas alone carrying out 24 of these (46% of the total executions for 2009). The Midwest can be blamed for the other 13% of the executions, with none taking place in the West or Northeast.

Of the eleven states which considered dropping the death penalty, only one actually did. In March, New Mexico became only the 15th state to end the death penalty, leaving 35 states upholding it.

2009 also had the second highest number of exonerations since the death penalty was reinstated. Nine men who had been sentenced to death were exonerated and freed, having spent a combined 121 years in prison between receiving their death sentences and being exonerated. This brings the total number of exonerations since 1973 to 139.

On August 17th 2009, the Court ordered a new evidentiary hearing for Troy Davis, an inmate on death row in Georgia. The case had drawn worldwide attention due to new evidence which suggested his innocence and stayed his execution. It was the first time in nearly 50 years that the Court favorably responded to a petition sent directly to them, rather than as an appeal from lower courts. Only two Justices were writing in opposition so the court ordered a lower federal court to the hear Davis’s evidence.

Since the man’s original conviction in 1991, at least 7 eyewitnesses against Davis have retracted their testimony. Significant new evidence points to another suspect as the actual killer. Justice Stevens, with Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg agreeing, wrote:

“The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death clearly
provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing.”

Despite such hopeful developments in the issue of innocence for Troy Davis, 2009 has provided the first solid proof that an innocent man has indeed been executed. Cameron Todd Willingham (pictured above) was executed on February 17th 2004 after being found guilty of starting the fire which killed his 3 daughters in his home in Corsicana, Texas, in 1991. But in 2009, a prominent forensic scientist commissioned by a state legislative panel reported that the evidence of arson that was used to convict and sentence Willingham to death failed to show any crime had been committed. This report concurred with similar reports on the case from leading forensic scientists commissioned by the Chicago Tribune and the Innocent Project. Willingham’s jury was misled by faulty evidence to believe that he set the fire which killed his children. The Governor, Rick Perry, has been accused of covering up the investigation of whether or not Texas has indeed executed an innocent man until after the March 2010 primary election. Perry had denied clemency for Willingham despite reports stating his innocence surfacing as early as January of 2004.
June 2nd 2009 was the date that the 200th person was executed in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in December 2000.

October 2009 also saw hundreds of people converge on the Texas capitol in Austin to call for abolition of the death penalty in Texas during the 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty. The skies were blue and enthusiasm was high as told over 500 people, including myself, took part in the march which was the largest rally against the death penalty in Texas since

2000. The March included the delivery of a petition to Rick Perry that was signed by over 6000 people calling for a complete investigation into Todd Willingham’s case and an overall moratorium on executions. Special guests included 3 innocent and exonerated former death row inmates, the pen-pal of Todd Willingham who first investigated his innocence, and the man’s last lawyer, Walter Reaves.

And of course I didn't forget, 2009 marked the creation of Stardoll's first (and sort of only) organization dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty. Death Watch; Stardoll currently has over 360 supporters and is growing fast. We plan to keep up the good work in the New Year!

2009 is done and dusted and now all we can do is look to the future and hope that changing attitudes surrounding the death penalty are maintained over the coming year. With more and more leaders concluding that the death penalty is a wasteful and expensive part of a broken system badly in need of reassessment, it seems clear that if an end does come to the death penalty it will be due to money. For now, all we can do is sit back and hope that such opinions don’t vanish as soon as the economic crisis is over.

Data compiled and written by ScofieldBurrows and ..Dark_Angel..

Sourced from: The Death Penalty Information Centre, Texas Monatorium Network, Death Watch International, and Death Penalty News.