April Meeting of the Sunday Supper Club

Our April speaker, Beth Panilaitis serves as the Executive Director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty; the only statewide citizens' organization that is dedicated solely to educating the public and lawmakers on alternatives to the death penalty. Ms. Panilaitis speaks to churches, community groups, and civic organizations across the Commonwealth and serves as VADP's lobbyist at the General Assembly. She currently serves on the advisory committee for the DREAMS Project of Witness to Innocence to develop a program to better serve the needs of the men and women who are exonerated from death row.

Beth will provide us with an overview of the death penalty including updated information on innocence, deterrence, cost, and arbitrary application. She'll then discuss the national trend toward abolition of the death penalty; New Mexico and New Jersey have already abolished the death penalty and many other states are progressing in this direction. On a state level, Beth will explain death penalty policy in Virginia and give us a report on the 2010 General Assembly Session.