The death penalty is a tricky and difficult topic to cover. Some people are wholeheartedly for it and claim its fairness and usefulness in deterring crime. Others are completely and adamantly against it and cite it as causing harm to the victims’ families and costing too much money.
On Saturday, the Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty will be holding a conference on Belmont’s campus in the Wedgewood Academic Center Conference Room from 9:30 a.m. until 2:45 p.m.
They will be looking at the pros and cons of capital punishment.
To bring everyone up to speed on the issues surrounding the death penalty abolition debate, TADP will play the short film, “To Honor Life.”
An aspect of death row convictions many people do not take into account is the victim’s family reliving the trauma over and over at every trial, according to the film.
To shed light on the personal effects of capital punishment, according to the event’s information page, TADP will be bringing in keynote speaker Miriam Kelle, an invaluable figure in the repealing of Nebraska’s death penalty.
Her brother, James Thimm, was murdered by Michael Ryan in 1985 and received the death penalty.
After Kelle’s testimony and the showing of “To Honor Life,” two opposing panels will discuss each side of the argument.
One panel will feature media, legislative and conservative viewpoints and conservative viewpoints on the changing dialogue around capital punishment
The other panel will be Tennessean inmates who were proven innocent after waiting on death row for decades and the lawyers instrumental in their exonerations, according to the event’s information page. The event is free and open to the public. TADP will be providing lunch. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.
For more information about this Saturday’s conference or TADP, visit www.tennesseedeathpenalty.org.
This article was written by Tyler Price.