In 2010, ACCR Co-Founders Marc Bookman and Dana Cook were approached by the national movement to end the death penalty due to their excellence in the field and location in Philadelphia – one of our nation’s most notoriously death-eligible counties. They left the public defender’s office to combine their skillsets and creativity in capital defense work and tackle Pennsylvania’s death penalty in a new way – by pouring their efforts into the void of resources for indigent capital defendants, and specifically working to assist and educate the lawyers and mitigation specialists who handle the minutiae of these cases. 

In addition to our work in Pennsylvania, ACCR advises and refers in other state’s cases, provides critical support in federal death cases, and represents the Government of Mexico in Mexican national death penalty cases.