Forum held on death penalty

Groups on both sides of the death penalty issue talked amongst each other and openly shared their ideas without argument at the IU Auditorium Tuesday evening. \nFor IU Chemistry Professor George Ewing, organizer of "Two Views: The Death Penalty," there is only one thing to say: Mission accomplished.\nThe forum, sponsored by the Union Board and featuring Thomas Perkins, Indiana deputy attorney general, and Sister Helen Prejean, author of the death row book Dead Man Walking, was never tailored as a debate. Instead, each speaker spoke to a half-filled auditorium about their roles within the issue and afterwards answered questions. Chancellor Sharon Brehm began the evening by thanking Ewing, IU Criminal Justice Professor Marla Sandys and Poynter Center Director David Smith for their organization of the Two Views series.\nAt the forum, Prejean, who speaks throughout the United States, told many stories of her experiences since she began her prison ministry in 1981. Her accounts both entertained and touched the audience as she attempted to expose the many flaws within the death penalty system. Though she is against the death penalty, Prejean was still sympathetic to the families of murder victims.\n"I can understand why anyone would want to execute murderers," she said. "Morally, we struggle with the death penalty because we can't hear about the horrible deaths of innocent people without feeling outrage."\nPrejean, a Catholic nun, spoke of the Bible and forgiveness. She urged that even though the crimes may be deplorable, repentance is always possible.\n"We are all worth more than the worst thing we have ever done in our life," Prejean said. "You've got to ask yourself, 'Could I pull the switch? Could I give the injection?' If you say 'no,' then there's a part of you who is not okay with it."\nPerkins, a 1991 IU graduate, spoke at length about Indiana's capital punishment system, hailing it as the "best in the nation." \n"It is important that people understand what goes into the process of the death penalty," Perkins said. "What people think will have a great effect on what will happen in the future."\nHe focused on the complex process of trying, convicting and executing a criminal, a process which can often take from 10 to 20 years. Perkins also touted Indiana's representation of death penalty defendants, calling to attention the mandatory experience and competence of defense attorneys in death penalty cases. \nHe also said that a state's capital punishment policy is a reflection of the people's will.\n"It would be easy to repeal the death penalty laws," he said. "People need only vote for legislators and prosecutors that do not support it…but rest assured that the scrutiny we give to the process is necessary to ensure that the most lasting of punishments is reserved for the most heinous of crimes."\nThe speakers ended with the question and answer period, moderated by Brehm. Perkins gave his view on the need for the United States to keep capital punishment when 113 countries have abolished it.\n"It doesn't mean the U.S. is wrong," he said. "The difference is we get to decide. We allow the states to plot their own courses"