Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan to speak on death penalty on Oct 17 at Vanderbilt

On Thursday, October 17th, former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan will speak on the Death Penalty at Vanderbilt University. The presentation is from 7:00 - 8:30 pm followed by a reception. The event will be held at the Benton Chapel next to the main library at Vanderbilt University. The Vanderbilt Divinity School is the evening's sponsor. For more information, please call Joe Ingle at 615-321-4114.

Justice Kogan took a strong, principled and courageous stand in a series of articles in which he said that Florida's death penalty was a costly failure. Despite intense criticism of his statements, Kogan did not waiver in his insistence that society must some day put aside the emotions surrounding the death penalty and reexamine whether execution makes sense in the context of modern society.

He has continued to advance that position since his return to the private sector, serving as Co-Chair of the National Committee to Prevent Wrongful Executions, now known as the Death Penalty Initiative of the Constitution Project, which produced the widely respected report, "Mandatory Justice: Eighteen Reforms to the Death Penalty."