Houston Chronicle contributor Lisa Falkenberg reported on the upcoming speaking engagement of Sister Helen Prejean at the University of Houston-Downtown on Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The event is being co-sponsored by TCADP, with specific information regarding the event available on the TCADP Calender, accessible here.
Sister Helen Prejean, 70, is an internationally known death penalty opponent, speaking out against the capital punishment system since the 1980s, most recently at the World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Geneva. Prejean’s relationship as spiritual advisor to six condemned death row inmates as well as her work with victims’ families lead to the bestselling book, Dead Man Walking, later made into an Oscar winning film by Tim Robbins staring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.
Falkenberg’s article of the Sister addresses various issues regarding the death penalty in Texas. The article reflects on the moral and practical reasons surrounding opposition to the death penalty including the power of deterrence and monetary costs associated with the practice. Additionally, the article reflected on the substantial drop in new death penalty sentences from 1999-2009, down from 284 to 106, just 9 of which were sentenced in Texas.
As Sister Prejean says, “Texas is the belt buckle of the Bible Belt. But I’ve talked to people in Texas. It’s not like they’re a different kind of people. They’re just immersed in the culture, but give them a chance to reflect, and I don’t find them any harder of an audience than anywhere else in the United States.”
Prejean will speak on March 3 at 6:00PM in the Wilhelmina Cullen Robertson Auditorium on the 3rd floor of the Academic Building at UHD.
To read the Chronicle article in its entirety click here