[media-credit name=’Elisabeth Gaffaney’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Sister Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States,” spoke against the death penalty to a nearly full Memorial Union theater Tuesday night as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series.

Prejean said killing people for the crimes they have committed does not serve the families of victims well enough. She added people are living human beings and by sentencing them to death row, society is sending a message that individuals do not know how to heal one another — they only know how to practice violence.

“Why can’t the Supreme Court recognize that this is torture?” Prejean said.

Prejean, who became interested in the death penalty after becoming a pen pal with a prison inmate sentenced to death, said she has accompanied six people to death row and believes the last two were innocent.

“There are tremendous injustices going on around this,” Prejean said.

According to Prejean, the use of the death penalty is not a way for families to honor their loved ones. She said families that do not pursue the worst possible form of punishment are looked down upon. However, she said people should instead learn to identify with others and forgive them.

Prejean said an increased amount of discourse on the death penalty is important because people are removed from the topic and do not realize how protected they are.

“If you are doing nothing, you are supporting the status quo,” she said.

Prejean also discussed “discrimination” caused by capital punishment, stating race plays a large role in sentences. She said eight out of 10 people are sentenced to the death penalty because they killed a white person.

“What is it going to take for the Supreme Court to realize the huge inequities in the application of death penalties?” Prejean said.

Prejean warned the crowd to “stay alert” because politicians would come to Wisconsin and list reasons as to why the instatement of the death penalty would benefit the state, though “none of them are about the truth.”

“Don’t let them put death back on the table,” Prejean said.

She added the use of the death penalty as a means to decrease the amount of crime in a state has proven ineffective.

“States with the death penalty have roughly doubled in homicides,” Prejean said.

Prejean also discussed President George W. Bush’s pro-life stance. She asked the crowd how someone could proclaim they promote life when there are children being born into poverty every day.

“Where is the pro-life in that?” Prejean said.

According to Prejean, the definition of pro-life is ensuring every person has the right to health care, decent housing, living wages and a good education.

UW freshman Allison Lake attended the lecture and said Prejean’s lecture was insightful.

“I think she brought up a lot of points that I didn’t necessarily think of, but that I agree with,” Lake said.

Prejean’s book remained at No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List for 31 weeks and was later made into the major motion picture “Dead Man Walking.”