JOURNEY OF HOPE...
from violence to healing™

JOURNEY PARTICIPANT
VIRGINIA

Sunshine helped organize the Virginia Journey

 "After my brother's death, many family members did not agree with my opposition to the death penalty and thought I could not have loved my brother very much if I didn't want revenge. This hurt me badly, because my brother and I were very close. Sometimes I think family members like me who don't want the death penalty are considered 'bad victims'. 'good victims' are the ones who want revenge. They are treated with respect because they are seeking the 'ultimate punishment'. The night Robert Alton Harris was executed in California, the prison warden treated the victims' family members to a huge banquet and made a celebration out of it. I will never be a 'good victim' because I will never understand the kind of thinking that would celebrate a killing."

SUNSHINE RICHARDS
LOVINGSTON, VIRGINIA

PROFILE:

Sunshine Richards lost her brother, Jimbo Richards, in 1983. He was discovered dead from a shotgun wound the day after Christmas. After his death, Sunshine knew Jimbo would not have wanted her to seek revenge. "He was a wonderful person, and to me it is much more healing to remember him in the best light and be able to pass my memories of him on to my kids. Maybe it's selfish, but I want my brother's memory to be an upbeat one. His last moments were very violent – we got the gruesome details. I refuse to hold him in my memory like that." In recent years, Sunshine has been active in Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. She served as spiritual advisor to Larry Stout, a man with a borderline IQ who was executed in Virginia in 1996.

Reprinted with permission from "Not In Our Name: Murder Victims Families Speak Out Against the Death Penalty," a publication of Murder Victims Families For Reconciliation, Barbara Hood & Rachel King, Editors.  MVFR