Rachel King, author of Don't Kill in Our Names: Families of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty, will read excerpts from her new book, Capital Consequences, Families of the Condemned Tell Their Stories, at Black Swan Books this Sunday at 3 p.m.
Capital Consequences tells the stories of the forgotten victims of capital punishment--the families of the convicted. It asks readers, regardless of they feel about the death penalty, to pause and consider that all acts--criminal and retributive alike --have broader human implications than we realize.
Those who support capital punishment often claim they do so because it provides justice and closure for the victims’ families. However, attorney Rachel King reminds us that there are other victims who must be considered in the debate over the death penalty – the families of the condemned.
Capital Consequences is a follow-up to King’s first book, Don’t Kill in Our Names (Rutgers University Press, 2003), in which members of the nationwide group, Murders Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, encourage an end to capital punishment.
In comparing both books, King contends that families of death row inmates suffer a unique form of grief. “Because their pain tends to elicit less attention and empathy than that of crime victims families, it becomes much more desperate and isolating,” writes King.
Ms. King, the state campaign manager for the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project, works with state affiliates on their legislative campaigns to eliminate and reform death penalty laws. She is a founding member of Alaskans Against the Death Penalty, and was active in a successful campaign to oppose reinstatement of the death penalty in Alaska. She has written on a variety of topics concerned with crime and capital punishment, and is author of Don’t Kill in Our Names: Families of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty (Rutgers University Press, 2003)
For more information, call Black Swan Books at: 804-353-9476
