When the State Kills

AP pHOTO: JaMES A. FINLEY

This April 2005 photo shows the death chamber at the Missouri Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo.

A Panel Discussion Considering Moral and Public Policy Issues Surrounding the Death Penalty

7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13

Model Courtroom Hulston Hall, MU Law School lower level
9th and Conley streets (park in Conley and Maryland garage)
State officials plan to execute Joseph Franklin on Nov. 20. As with most of the 68 men executed by Missouri since 1989 (5th-most of U.S. states)he did commit murder, but critical issues surrounding the death penalty remain unaddressed. How do executions affect prison workers, murder-victim families and the larger society? Does the State have a right to kill human beings while maximum-security prisons can safely hold dangerous people? Do executions make society safer or is the death-penalty-as-deterrent argument a myth? What alternatives exist to capital punishment? The program will address these questions and encourage dialogue after comments by the following panelists:
Hank WatersPublisher emeritus and daily columnist with Columbia Daily Tribune (publisher 1966-2012). The Tribune has been locally owned and operated by his family for more than 100 years. Melinda PendergraphA public defender for more than 25 years, she has represented in appellate courts dozens of individuals facing a death sentence. John GalliherMU sociology professor and co-author of 16 books, including The Death of the American Death Penalty: States Still Leading the Way (2012). Co-sponsored by MU Law School ACLU, Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (MADP) and the Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). For more details call 449-4585.