University News
Death Penalty Forum
August 19, 2002
MACOMB, IL -- Since executions were re-instituted in Illinois in 1976, 12 persons have been executed and 13 were exonerated as having been wrongly convicted. Members of the Illinois Death Penalty Education Project will be on the Western Illinois University campus Thursday, Aug. 29 to discuss death penalty reform.
"The Illinois Death Penalty: Mistakes, Moratorium and Reform" public forum will be held from 3-4:30 p.m. in Stipes Hall 121. Featured panelists include Edwin Colfax, director of the Illinois Death Penalty Education Project; Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at the Northwestern School of Law; and Barry Anderson, WIU law enforcement and justice administration (LEJA) assistant professor.
Colfax will discuss "The Execution Moratorium: Introduction and Background on Illinois' Troubled Death Penalty." He will examine the current state of affairs concerning the death penalty, including Governor Ryan's moratorium.
Warden, a journalist, and his students uncovered six of those wrongly convicted in Illinois. His work in the area of wrongful convictions in the state played a critical role in the governor's decision to put the death penalty on hold. Warden will present "How the System Convicted the Wrong People."
Anderson will speak on his research "The More You Know
Public Opinion and the Death Penalty." Anderson's study concerns the role of education on the public's opinion of the death penalty and bias in the application of the capital punishment process.
The forum, sponsored by Western's LEJA department and the Illinois Death Penalty Education Project, is open free to the public. Media are encouraged to attend. Following the presentations, a question and answer session will be held with Colfax, Warden and Anderson.
For more information, contact Anderson at 309/298-2291 or at BM-Anderson@wiu.edu.
Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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