Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation and The Journey of Hope are victims' advocacy groups that oppose the death penalty. People who have lost loved ones to murder founded these organizations. They provide support to family members of murder victims. Many of their members tour the country, explaining their opposition to the death penalty.

The speakers' stories contrast starkly with the myths often used to support the death penalty, such as its perceived cathartic power for victims. After an execution, many victims are left with the same gnawing pain and anger they hoped the execution would ease.

"Unfortunately, the prosecutors don't have a desire to see the victims heal," Pelke says. "They want to keep the victim angry and go to the courtroom and let the jury see the tears." The lengthy appeals that inevitably follow a death sentence force a grieving family to revisit the murder -- "to relive it and relive it and relive it," Pelke says. "It's like opening the wound again."