DPF is governed by a Board of Directors composed of activists, political, religious, and civic leaders, along with legal scholars and attorneys involved in death penalty litigation.
In addition, DPF has an Advisory Board composed of community and religious leaders, celebrities, writers, and representatives of labor and human rights organizations who support anti-death penalty work.
[9] Clark spoke out in opposition to lethal injection: “It is intended to put a humane face on killing, when reality is that the death penalty, capital punishment, is a barbaric practice that has no place in a civilized society.
We object strenuously to efforts to make the death penalty more palatable to the public.”[10] Claudia King served as executive director of the organization.
"[26] In 2023, DPF President Mike Farrell praised California Governor Gavin Newsom's decision to dismantle the state's death row.
James Lawson (activist) (2002), Patch Adams (2003), Aqeela Sherrills (2004),[28] Bishop Henry Williamson (2005), George F. Regas (2006), Robert Greenwald (2007), Azim Khamisa (2008), Bryan Stevenson (2009), Sister Suzanne Jabro, CSJ (2010), Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange (2011), Greg Boyle (2012), Javier Stauring (2013), Dolores Huerta (2016) Rubin Carter (1996), Kiefer Sutherland (1996), Sean Penn (1997), CA State Senator John Burton (American politician) (1998), Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (2000), Roger Mahony (2001), Danny Glover (2002),[29][30] Ramona Ripston (2003), Gabino Zavala (2004), Ted Kennedy (2005), Barry Scheck (2006), Thomas Gumbleton (2007), Jon Corzine and New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (2008), Nick McKeown (2009), Richard Dieter (2010), Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law (Elisabeth Semel & Ty Alper) (2011), West Memphis Three and their defense team (2012), 2012 California Proposition 34 leaders (2013), Dale Baich (2015), Richard Branson (2016), Bernie Sanders (2017), Renny Cushing (2019), Michael L. Radelet (2021), Virginia Abolition Movement Leaders: Ralph Norman, Scott Surovell, Michael P. Mullin, Joseph Giarratano, among others (2022), Diann Rust-Tierney (2023) Mervyn Dymally (2006), Michael Millman (2014),[5] Leonard Beerman (2015), James Lawson (activist) (2018), Anthony G. Amsterdam (2019) Studs Terkel (2002),[31] Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen (actor) (2003),[32] Robert Wise (2004), Bradley Whitford and Jane Kaczmarek (2005), Carl Reiner (2006), David E. Kelley (2007),[33] John Grisham (2008), Nancy Miller (2009), Alec Baldwin (2010), Hilary Swank (2011), MC Hammer (2012), James Cromwell (2013), Peter Sarsgaard and Veena Sud, on behalf of The Cast and Crew of “The Killing (American TV series)” (2014), Alex Gibney, Brad Hebert, Laura Michalchyshyn on behalf of Death Row Stories (2015), Jackson Browne (2016), Joan Baez (2017), Elizabeth Bruenig (2023) Steve Allen (1998), Norman Jewison (1999), David E. Kelley, Robert Breech, and the Cast of The Practice (2000),[33] Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme and the Cast of The West Wing (2001),[34] Stanley Sheinbaum (2002), George Ryan (2003), Rosalynn Carter (2004), Andy and Deborah Rappaport (2005), Victoria Riskin and David W. Rintels (2006), Max Palevsky and Jodie Evans (2007), Sarah Timberman and Ed Redlich (2008), John Van de Kamp (2009), Sherry and Leo Frumkin (2010), Thomas Schlamme (2011), Denise Foderaro Quattrone (2012), Death row exonerees Kwame Ajamu, Ricky Jackson and Wiley Bridgeman along with their attorneys (2015), John Paul Stevens (2019), Bryan Stevenson (2021), Paula Mitchell, Andy Wilson, and Maurice Hastings (2023) Mario Cuomo (1996),[35] Jesse Jackson (1997), Larry Fox (on behalf of the American Bar Association) (1998), David Protess and Lawrence Marshall (1999), Senator Russ Feingold (2000),[36] Governor George Ryan (2001), Barbara Lee (2002), Vicente Fox (2003), Harry Belafonte (2004), Sister Helen Prejean (2005), Dorothy Ehrlich (2006), Kamala Harris (2007), Julian Bond (2008), Jeanne Woodford (2009), Paul Haggis (2010), Lance Lindsey (2011), Martin O'Malley (2014), Judy Clarke and Speedy Rice (2017), Mike Farrell (2018), Dick Durbin and Ayanna Pressley (2022), Josh Shapiro (2023) Gloria Killian,[37] Greg Wilhoit,[38] Tom Goldstein[39] (2006) Melody Ermachild, Henry Weinstein, and Dr. Arthur Zitrin (2008) Madeleine Haas Russell[40] (1997), Mike Farrell (2006), George McGovern (2007), Sidney Sheinberg (2008), Bill Richardson (2009), Stephen Bright (2011), Norman Felton (2013), Juan E. Méndez (2014), Sharon Brous (2021) Pat Quinn (politician)[41] (2011) Robert Badinter (2022)