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DEATH PENALTY ALTERNATIVES FOR ARIZONA INC
SCOTTSDALE, AZ · EIN 860914412 · Form 990EZ · FY2022 · NTEE A99Z · Arts, Culture & Humanities · Small ($100K-$1M) · azdeathpenalty.org
revenue
$142K
expenses
$65K
net assets
$164K
employees
—
mission · from form 990

EDUCATE ABOUT DEATH PENALTY ISSUES

profile · synthesized from sources

Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona (DPAA) is a nonprofit educational organization working to end the death penalty in Arizona through public education, policy advocacy, and research. The organization engages interns, awards scholarships, and raises awareness about systemic injustices, focusing on issues like mental illness, racial disparities, and wrongful convictions. Founded in 2012 through the merger of two predecessor groups, DPAA operates statewide with regional volunteer networks.

named programs · 3 · from sources

what they call their work

Internship Program
Provides semester-long remote and in-person internships focused on death penalty research, legislative advocacy, and policy analysis in areas such as cold cases, mental illness, and capital case funding
Punch Woods Memorial Scholarship
Annual scholarship awarding up to $500 to students conducting research or creative projects on the death penalty, with a requirement to share findings publicly
SMI Exemption Campaign
Advocacy initiative focused on preventing the execution of individuals with serious mental illness, highlighted by the case of Clarence Dixon
activities · 5 groups

what they do

  • Merit-Based Educational Scholarships 3 activities
    • Punch Woods Memorial Scholarship
      Offers annual scholarships of up to $500 to support students conducting research, advocacy, or creative projects that deepen public understanding of the death penalty; awards have funded research on death penalty disparities, felony murder cases, cold cases, and public art for justice reform.
    • Punch Woods Memorial Scholarship Program
      Awards up to $500 annually through the Punch Woods Memorial Scholarship to students to support projects that deepen public understanding of the death penalty, including research on application disparities, historical racial demographics, felony murder cases, and cold case analysis.
    • Punch Woods Memorial Scholarship Program
      Awards up to $500 annually through the Punch Woods Memorial Scholarship to students to support projects that deepen public understanding of the death penalty, including research on application disparities, historical racial demographics, felony murder cases, and cold case analysis.
  • Local Wage Enforcement & Advocacy 1 activity
    • Coalition building and organizational development
      Formed in 2012 through the merger of two predecessor organizations and has since worked to build a broad, diverse, and inclusive statewide coalition of organizations committed to abolishing the death penalty in Arizona.
  • Criminal Justice Policy Advocacy 1 activity
    • Executive clemency and parole advocacy
      Engages in advocacy related to executive decisions on the death penalty, including providing recommendations to the governor on reprieves, advocating for sentence commutations, and addressing parole revocation processes.
  • Criminal Record Relief Services 1 activity
    • Exoneration support and advocacy
      Facilitated the exoneration of 11 individuals from death row in Arizona since 1975 through advocacy, research, and collaboration with justice reform networks.
  • Uncategorized 11 activities
    • Advocacy for Death Penalty Abolition
      Advocates for the abolition of the death penalty in Arizona, providing recommendations to the governor on reprieves and commutations, and documenting how federal laws restrict habeas corpus review, increasing risks of wrongful executions.
    • Advocacy for Death Penalty Abolition
      Advocates for the abolition of the death penalty in Arizona, providing recommendations to the governor on reprieves and commutations, and documenting how federal laws restrict habeas corpus review, increasing risks of wrongful executions.
    • Coalition Building
      Builds a broad, diverse, and inclusive coalition of organizations committed to ending the death penalty in Arizona, having merged two predecessor organizations in July 2012 to form a single statewide entity.
    • Coalition Building for Death Penalty Abolition
      Builds a broad, diverse, and inclusive coalition of organizations committed to ending the death penalty in Arizona, formed by merging two predecessor organizations in July 2012.
    • Death penalty policy advocacy and reform recommendations
      Advocates for systemic changes to end the death penalty in Arizona, including submitting policy recommendations on cold cases and missing persons to state legislators, pushing for broader reforms beyond execution protocol reviews, and highlighting legal barriers like those in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 that increase risks of wrongful executions.
    • Justice Reform Advocacy Day and Internships
      Organizes Justice Reform Advocacy Day at the state capitol, providing interns with exclusive entry and opportunities to meet with exonerated individuals and share policy recommendations with Arizona representatives and senators.
    • Justice Reform Advocacy Day and Internships
      Organizes Justice Reform Advocacy Day at the state capitol, providing interns with exclusive entry and opportunities to meet with exonerated individuals and share policy recommendations with Arizona representatives and senators.
    • Justice Reform Advocacy Day participation
      Organizes and facilitates student intern participation in advocacy events at the Arizona State Capitol, including meetings with formerly incarcerated individuals and policymakers, with exclusive access to legislative advocacy activities.
    • Prisoner Book Program
      Operates the "Reading on The Row" program, delivering hundreds of books to death row prisoners in Arizona prisons, reaching nearly 25% of the state's death row population with books and support services since November 2022.
    • Prisoner Book Program
      Operates the "Reading on The Row" program, delivering hundreds of books to death row prisoners in Arizona prisons, reaching nearly 25% of the state's death row population with books and support services since November 2022.
    • Reading on The Row program
      Provides books and reading materials to death row prisoners in Arizona; fulfilled 33 book requests and delivered hundreds of books since the program's launch in November 2022, reaching nearly 25% of Arizona's death row population.
financials · form 990EZ · fy2022
revenue
Total revenue$142K
Contributions & grants$142K100%
Program service revenue——
Investment income$4650%
Other revenue—
expenses
Total expenses$65K
Program expenses—
Admin / overhead—
Fundraising—
Salaries & benefits$55K
Grants paid out$484
balance sheet
Total assets$164K
Cash—
Investments—
Liabilities—
Net assets$164K
1 years on record · 2022–2022
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2022

who runs it

board members · 9
  • AJ FLICK — DIRECTOR
  • ALAN TAVASSOLI — DIRECTOR
  • ANN NICHOLS — DIRECTOR
  • DAN PEITZMEYER — DIRECTOR
  • DAVID SPENCE — DIRECTOR
  • PAT BURNS — DIRECTOR
  • RENA GLITSOS — DIRECTOR
  • ROD MCLEOD — DIRECTOR
  • SAM KOOISTRA — DIRECTOR
relationships · 9

who they work with

  • Aaron Gunches Partner — Co-founded the Reading on the Row program with DPAA while incarcerated on death row.
  • Arizona Board of Executive Clemency Government — Monitors and advocates for reform of the board's composition and decision-making processes.
  • Arizona Death Penalty Forum Partner — Predecessor organization that merged with Coalition of Arizonans to Abolish the Death Penalty to form DPAA in 2012.
  • Arizona State University Partner — Scholarship recipient Tori Choate is a law student at Arizona State University.
  • Arizona Supreme Court Partner — Collaborates in cases leading to the overturning of wrongful convictions.
  • Coalition of Arizonans to Abolish the Death Penalty Partner — Predecessor organization that merged with Arizona Death Penalty Forum to form DPAA in 2012.
  • Equal Justice Initiative Partner — Links to Equal Justice Initiative's reporting on AEDPA's impact on innocence and ineffective counsel claims.
  • University of Washington Partner — Scholarship recipient Tess Bloxham is a student at the University of Washington.
  • Witness to Innocence Partner — Ray Krone, co-founder of Witness to Innocence, met with DPAA interns at Justice Reform Advocacy Day.