Speakers
criticize death penalty
Three representatives from different backgrounds spoke
as part of a “Journey of Hope” discussion.
| |
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| Kenneth Lee | Daily
Trojan |
| Activism. Former Florida death row
inmate Juan Melendez shares his experiences awaiting
execution for 18 years. He was released in
1999. |
By
JONATHAN KWAN
Contributing
Writer
A group of anti-death penalty
activists spoke to an audience of 20 people Tuesday, with a
message that, as one speaker said, "revenge is never the
answer."
The speakers, who included a former
death-row inmate and the grandson of a murder victim, spoke
as part of the "Journey of Hope — From Violence to Healing"
discussion in Topping Student Center.
One of the speakers, Juan Melendez, said if
his death sentence had not been overturned after the
discovery of additional evidence 17 years after he was
convicted of murder, he would not be here Tuesday.
"I've been speaking for about two years and
three weeks, ever since I've been out," 51-year-old Melendez
told a crowd of 20 at the Topping Student Center.
"I'm here to transform the negative
experience and turn it into a positive experience," Melendez
said. "This is one of the only things I can do to help."
Melendez said the death penalty is a bad
government policy. He cited himself as an example of how
"the system doesn't work because they just don't have all
the facts." Melendez said he speaks to people all over the
nation to put a human face on the death penalty.
"I speak at wherever they take me,"
Melendez said. "I have nightmares often and sometimes I
really miss the friends I left behind, but I take it day by
day to get my message out that the death penalty is just not
right."
USC is one of the many places in the
14-week tour where the anti-death penalty nonprofit
organization "Journey of Hope" speaks.
Bill Pelke, president and co-founder of the
group, speaks out from a murder victim's family
perspective.
Pelke's grandmother was murdered almost 20
years ago by four teenage girls.
Pelke said he supported the death penalty
after his grandmother was stabbed 33 times to death for $10
and an old car. He said he went through a transformation one
and a half years after Paula Cooper, one of the girls, who
was 15 at that time, was sentenced to death.
"The death penalty has nothing to do with
healing, it creates more killing," said Pelke. "My grandma
would have felt compassion, so the weight of what the right
thing to do fell on my shoulders."
Pelke said the same day he went through the
transformation, he began to write and speak about capital
punishment. The case brought national attention, with
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the Pope supporting Pelke in his
decision. After Pelke called the prosecutor and after 2
million people signed a petition, the judge overturned
Cooper's sentence in 1989. The ruling changed the
legislature's ruling to raise the age of the death penalty
to 16.
"The answer is love and compassion for all
of humanity," Pelke responded when asked what message he
wanted to give.
"The faith perspective teaches us to hate
the sin, but love the sinner. If we have love for another
human being, how can we put them through the death penalty?"
he asked.
Pelke said his goal is to abolish the death
penalty. His book "Journey for Hope: From Violence to
Healing" outlines the tragic death of his grandmother and
his transformation into an anti-death penalty advocate. He
said thousands have participated in helping the nonprofit
organization speak at high schools, colleges, churches,
jails, on TV, radio and other places all over the nation.
Copyright 2004 by the Daily
Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published
in Vol. 151, No. 28 (Wednesday, February 25, 2004),
beginning on page 14 and ending on page 15.
