Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break

Learn. Act. Change the World.

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 bring students to Austin for 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 Protest Day. There will be opportunities to write press releases, speak in public, meet with legislators or their aides, and conceive and carry out a direct action.

Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break

Join us March 10-14, 2008 in Austin for the award-winning Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break.

Adrienne Rachel and Morgan Lamandre at the 2007 Spring Break.

Meet Our Co-Sponsors

We have an event page on FaceBook and we also have a Facebook group Students Against the Death Penalty. Students Against the Death Penalty also has a website.

You can also visit the main website of Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, and the websites of our two main partners, Texas Moratorium Network, which started this alternative spring break back in 2004 and the Austin chapter of Campaign to End the Death Penalty, which is one of the hardest working student anti-death penalty groups in the country. Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) has been one of our strongest supporters and sponsors for several years. Another of our most helpful longtime sponsors is Campus Progress. Amnesty International USA, Equal Justice USA , Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty are also sponsors.

Finally, read more about the death penalty at the Death Penalty Information Center.

You might also be interested in visiting the website of one of the projects we are helping with, SharonKiller.com.

Videos from Past Spring Breaks

MTV 2007


Our Alternative Spring Break was featured on MTV's TRL and "The Amazing Break" in 2007.

2006 MTVu


Click play, then wait 17 seconds and the video will start.

2006 Huntsville Trip


This video contains footage of the trip to Huntsville to protest an execution, including the students outside the prison and a clip of former death row chaplain Carroll Pickett speaking to the students.

2005 Video


Below is a video of the 2005 Alternative Spring Break. It was produced and directed by Sarah Garrahan, who attended spring break that year.

Photos of Spring Breakers in Action

Spring Breakers Protest an Execution in Huntsville - 2006

Spring Breakers Protesting an Execution in Huntsville - 2006

Spring Breakers Visiting the Office of a Texas State Legislator - 2007

What People are Saying

"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, sophomore at UT-Austin and president of Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, who attended alternative spring break in 2005 as a high school senior.

Latest Announcements

"Live Phone Call from Inside a Prison"

Victor Safforld (AKA Cortez Brown), one of the Death Row 10, will call in and speak to us on the phone from inside a supermax prison in Illinois. ...
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SXSW Film Added to Spring Break Schedule

At the Death House Door Director: Steve James & Peter Gilbert 1:00 PM, Wednesday March 12th - Austin Convention Center ...
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New Sponsor: Amnesty International

Amnesty International USA agrees to co-sponsor our Alternative Spring Break!...
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Alan Clarke to Speak

Alan Clarke has agreed to speak at spring break. He is a lawyer and co-author of the new book (with Laurelyn Whitt) entitled "The Bitter Fruit of American Justice: International and Domestic Resistance to the Death Penalty."...
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Register Now! It's Free!

Registration for our Alternative Spring Break is free. We only charge a nominal $25 fee for housing, which covers the entire week. If you live in Austin or arrange for your own housing, then there is no fee, but we ask that you register so we know how many people are coming. Register Now....

Former District Attorney Sam Milsap