sean_penn_web.jpgMIAMI – New York Times best-selling author of Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean, will speak at a lecture and instruct at a workshop on Miami Dade College’s North campus. The lecture, titled Crime and Punishment: Decoding the Victim-perpetrator Cycle, will take place at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 14 in the Lehman Theatre, room 5120. The event is free and open to the public.

The Human Rights Committee at Miami Dade College’s North campus and the International Solidarity for the Human Rights, are organizers of the lecture.
On Friday, Nov. 15, from noon – 4 p.m., Prejean and literary expert Lee Gutkind   host a free Professional Development workshop focused on the power of narrative nonfiction writing. The in-depth workshop will take place at the North campus’ Conference Center, room 3249.
Attendees will learn how to embed their personal stories and experiences in their writing and learn how to better understand their lives, as well as the journeys of others. This workshop will offer students a real world, humanist perspective of this writing genre, emphasizing human rights, advocacy and human understanding. Loung Ung, a survivor of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, will focus on how writing helped her heal.  A longtime advocate for abolishing the death penalty, Prejean will discuss the criminal, sociological, philosophical, and humanitarian aspects of the death penalty.
“The death penalty is one of the great moral issues facing our country, yet most people rarely think about it and very few of us take the time to delve deeply enough into this issue to be able to make an informed decision about it,” said Prejean. “I look forward to once again engage with the students and faculty of MDC as we further discuss this controversial and current topic.”  
The Human Rights Committee at the North campus promotes co-curricular programming related to social justice and human rights, in an effort to increase awareness on the importance of equality and inclusion of all persons. As part of this effort, the North campus will also host the play, Dead Man Walking March 11-14, 2014 at the Lehman Theatre.
These events are co-sponsored by the Genesis Fund LLC, which is a private collaborative with the goal of provoking thought and challenging perspective.