RICK HALPERIN TO APPEAL FOR END OF DEATH PENALTY DURING UTAH VIGIL
/24-7PressRelease/ - ODGEN, UT, January 17, 2007 - Dr. Rick Halperin will call for an end to the death penalty in Utah during a vigil at the Utah State Prison in Draper January 20. Halperin is chairman of the board of directors of Amnesty International.
Halperin told local supporters, "My entire life has been spent defending and advocating the idea that there is no such thing as a lesser person, and that all persons, regardless of whatever they have done, still have and remain worthy of their inherent dignity and must not, for any reason, be tortured or be put to death."
Halperin said, "As a member of the history department at Southern Methodist University [in Dallas, Texas], I have been able to offer graduate and undergraduate courses in human rights. Many of my students are preparing for law school and are just now coming to grapple with ideas of law, human rights, justice, responsibility, victims and perpetrators, and, impunity and reconciliation."
"Since 1972, I have been actively involved in the effort and struggle to abolish the death penalty in the United States. I work with many anti-death penalty (abolitionist) organizations, capital defense attorneys, representatives of various communities of faith, newspaper editorial boards, victims' rights groups, members of the families of the condemned, and many death row inmates throughout the country."
The vigil will start at 2 PM at the Utah State Prison at Draper to mark the 30th anniversary of the execution of Gary Gilmore. Gilmore was the first person executed in the United States after reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.
"Help us end the death penalty," asks Salt Lake City coordinator James Griner. "Participants at the vigil will remember the families of victims of violence, those who have been executed in Utah and their families."
The prison is located about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City alongside Interstate 15.
Death penalty fact sheets:
http://www1.webng.com/oneil/News/DeathPenaltyFacts.htm
CONTACTS:
Lydia Kalish
Utah State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator,
Amnesty International
(801) 393-4467
email: pokey.gal@hotmail.com
http://www.amnestyutah.org/
Rick Halperin, Ph. D.
email: rhalperi@mail.smu.edu
http://www.journeyofhope.org/old_site/rick_halperin's%20bio.htm
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