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Show news 11.23.2009 Symposium concentrates on victim relief These UVU professors are the core of death penalty opposition on campus. They are passionate about reforming the justice system to include^ more restoritive measures. • Although every seat was taken by both those eager to be enlightened Campus editor ' and those looking to1 disagree, a full auditorium did not discourage those determined to be members of the audience in LI 120 on Nov. 19, who lined up determinedly against the back wall. The fifth Annual Symposium on Restorative Justice and the Death Penalty was excessively attended by those itching to hear Howard Morton, Michael Radelet and Howard Zehr present on issues surrounding capital punishment and restorative justice. JESSICA BURNHAM Professor Alan Clarke J.D.,LL.M: "When you think of a person .; who has done something really horrible, perhaps committed murder,if '•. you support, the death -"'. penalty " you're say- .. ing their whole being will always be defined by the worst thing they have ever done. It is throwing a person away and : saying they can'i be salvaged. Restorative justice focuses on the humanity in all ot us, even in the people who have done evil things, and gives them the' opportunity to change." Dr.Sandy Mcgunigall-Smith: TRENT BATES/ UVU Review The road to restoration and recovery *| s*f*V ALISON WORTHEN/ UVU Review Make healing the priority Michael L. Radelet, Professor of Sociology at University of Colorado Boulder and death penalty scholar with particular interest in social justice, urged audience members to rethink the death • penalty. Radelet observed that the most prevalent argument for maintaining the death penalty today is the supposed consolation factor for the families of homicide victims. He gave the pivotal statistic that while in 1961, 94 percent of homicides were solved by arrest, today only 60 percent of those cases are solved. "Even if an individual supports the death penalty, they would rather help others who don't even know who killed their loved one, who don't know what their last hours were like," Radelet said. Averaging $3.5 million per execution, Radelet pointed out that the death penalty is much more expensive than life without parole which averages $20,000 per year. "I'm not making the argument that the death penalty doesn't help the families of homicide victims, but I am suggesting that the money could be used more wisely." Radelet said. Pointing out that 635,000 people have been murdered in the U.S. since 1977, only 7,500 have been sentenced to death, and only 1 percent of homicides actually result in execution. "Why don't we ask the families of homicide victims how we could better spend this money?" asked Rade- let. In correlation with Howard Morton's call to action in unsolved homicide cases, Radelet supports the development of cold case squads, to be hypothetically funded by the money formerly spent on the death penalty, which would dedicate all efforts to unraveling unsolved cases which have lost priority with law enforcement. Radelet believes the needs of families of homicide victims are largely neglected not only by government, but also the community. "When someone is murdered it is difficult to know what to say and we don't encourage their families to talk," Radelet said. "We need to listen to them and make their healing the priority." Known as the "Grandfather of Restorative Justice" Howard Zehr, a professor of sociology and restorative justice at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., presented on the process of restorative justice for victims. He has worked intimately with victims and their families in trying to identify and accommodate their recovery needs. "A woman had two children with her husband from whom she was separated, and he had the right to have the children on certain holidays. On Christmas Eve, he showed up all excited to take the children out to eat, and when she went to pick them up on Christmas day, she found he had murdered both of them and killed himself," Zehr said, speaking about one woman who has informed his research, along with many other victims who have benefited from his restorative approach. Zehr emphasized the need of these victims to transcend the trauma they have experienced, but also recognized the fact that the transcendental factor will be different from individual to individual. "When I talk with a rape victim and a burglary victim, I can't always tell the difference because people go through a range of emotions and they all deal with things differently," Zehr said. He maintained that many people do not understand the survivor experience and the disorder, dis-empowerment and disconnection victims often feel. He explained their healing process as a series of journeys that work towards a restoration of meaning, honor, vindication and justice. "I think our need to exchange Christmas gifts and our need for revenge comes from the same place. We think we need to balance the score - it is a basic human need - but there are different ways to do it," Zehr noted. He explained that there is an entire series of needs that need to be met after being victimized and claims that if we address those needs in the justice process, people can resume their journey more easily and are less likely to need revenge. These needs include safety, information, a sense of order and a possible encounter with the offender. Not to promote forgiveness, Zehr emphasized, but merely to facilitate reconciliation if it will assist the recovering victim in any way. "I believe we should reform the current system to make it more restorative," Zehr said. "We need to change the questions to focus on the victims." Advocating for the voiceless In 1975 Howard Morton found out that his first-born son, Guy Oliver Morton, had been stabbed in the •back and murdered in a desert outside of Pheonix, Ariz. Each of Guy's siblings :dropped out before graduating high school so they 'wouldn't pass up their ;brother. The Morton's marriage faltered, resultant of the the depression and despair experienced by a grieving mother, and a suffering father who believed he had failed to protect his son. Guy's murderer was never found and the case became cold as the authorities developed new priorities. After participating in support groups and other forms of counseling, the Morton family realized they needed to be productive with the experience they endured and keep it from happening to other families. Thereafter Howard Morton co-founded Fami- lies of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons, Inc. in Colorado for which he is the executive director. "I am neither abolitionist or for the death penalty, I stand for neither restorative nor retributive justice, nor do I seek vengeance against those who murder," Morton said. "I come to this symposium as an advocate of those family members and friends who suffered the loss of a loved one to a murder for which no one has ever been pros- ecuted. I am an advocate for justice for those whom our system has forgotten." Morton explained that nationally, four out of 10 people are getting away with murder. Although his home state of Colorado has only executed one person in the past 40 years, it spends $3 million to maintain the death penalty annually. He believes that our current system doesn't invest enough resources in pursuing homicide cases, and proposed that 'There is something inside me that says the death penalty is wrong. The people I have . been talking to over the years are not Hannibal Lecters, if you set their crime aside they are quite unexceptional people. Many students ask me questions such as, 'How would you feel if it was your 8-year-old granddaughter raped and murdered?' My response is that. I would probably want to kill them with my own ; .bare hands as slowly an4fi& .» tK . painfully as possible, but :. that doesn't make it the right i' -thing to do." Dr. Michael MinchT "The first reason to oppose the death penalty is that it isn't administered fairly and ' irreversible mistakes -v^lf. are made. I also happen^ think the death penalty is intrinsically wrong. It is hypocritical to say 'You killed someone, Tin going to kill you.' AH the research tells us when an offender has the opportunity to somehow *:\ amend for their crime, and when the survivors see that the murderer is making a good faith effort, a degree of ; healing takes place. Our focus ' should be on finding restoration for victims and protecting society rather than punishing, someone, which I think is : mean spirited and inhumane." Professor Nancy Rushforth: ';*•• "1 don't think violence can compensate for violence, \ it only perpetuates the exist[*ing violence in our culture. I I believe that the death ; penalty is arbitrary and unit would be a more effec! fairly administered. We also tive use of money to allot i know that we have convicted 1 it to a cause which meets innocent people and have so the need of survivors and I far exonerated 139 death row solves the cases of vic! inmates. I think we need a lot. tims, rather than using it to of reform maintain the death penalty. through"The number one thing a out our survivor wants is to find justice out who killed their loved i system, one," Morton said. "They \ not just want to speak for those | in dealing who can't speak for them- i with the selves." death penalty." ! • TRENT BATES/ UVU |