The Seeking Justice in Texas... Educating for Life 2008 TCADP Annual Conference
Mike Farrell's Keynote Address
Workshop: How To Answer Tough Questions.
The workshop was presented by Dave Atwood, Linda White and Bob Van Steenburg. The workshop focused on both the technique for answering tough questions as well as how to address specific questions. The suggested technique included understanding of how to use the question and answer cycle to the speaker’s benefit. When answering questions there are several imperatives to be followed. These include listening carefully, answering all questions and providing succinct answers. One of the key concepts was the idea of a “buffer” following the question to ensure that they key point in the questions are addressed. Emphasis was also placed on the necessity of adequate preparation. The techniques that were presented were based on the book “In the Life of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions When It Really Counts” by Jerry Weisman. Several specific questions were also addressed. A listing of some of the tough questions and possible responses can be found in the resource section of this website.
Workshop: How to Engage Faith Communities
The workshop was presented by Vicki McCuistion. The workshop focues on the tools needed to work in different denominations on the issue of the death penalty. Personal experiences were shared along with specific resource information useful in working in multiple denominations. Assessments of the structure, decision making bodies, lingo, and specific death penalty statements, and resources specific to the denominaiton were shared for the Catholic, United Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Unitarian denominations. Keys to working within faith communities include the following:
- Always be respectful
- Respect their process
- Feeling Safe is important
- Progress can be very slow and incremental
- Be creative, if talking about the bigger issue of the death penalty is not working try something else.
- Compelling storytellers are always more convincing than an activist (a murder victim family member or a family member of an executed inmate) People seem to more easily change their minds when they meet someone touched by the process. Activists are important in setting the scene with statistical information and the facts.
Resource information can be found in the Programs section of this website.
Workshop: How to Organize a Chapter
Both emerging and established TCADP chapter leaders participated in the workshop on Local Chapter Development, which provided ideas and suggestions for engaging and activating members throughout the state. The first half of the workshop focused on successful techniques for starting or rejuvenating a chapter - for example, determining the centers of interest in an area, such as faith communities, colleges/universities, or peace & justice organizations; using the arts as a medium for attracting members; and holding a productive first meeting. In the second half of the workshop, participants discussed strategies for sustaining, consolidating, and growing the membership of existing chapters. Suggestions included providing members with a realistic, appropriate role to play in chapter meetings and holding them accountable for any tasks for which they volunteer; developing activities and events together as a chapter, using TCADP’s strategic plan as a guide; and incorporating recruitment goals into all possible activities. The workshop facilitators, Jim Coombes and Kristin Houlé, emphasized the advantages and benefits of TCADP’s chapter structure and urged all participants to use the organization’s Board of Directors and staff as they moved forward in their own communities.
Worshop: Private Session for Death Row Families
This gathering was led in discussion and sharing by Sandrine Ageorges and Nancy Bailey. Jared Tyler, an attorney from Texas Defender Service, and Mary Ellen Felps, an attorney who has assisted many inmates with legal issues not related to their capital case were kind enough to make themselves available as sources of information and to answer questions.
Among the topics discussed were difficulties in communicating with attorneys, distress over inability to effectively deal with problems related to conditions at Polunsky and medical problems. One major topic was the importance of encouraging prisoners to develop support systems for themselves by contacting available advocacy groups both in Texas and abroad where large anti-death penalty organizations are reaching out to prisoners on death row in Texas.
There was a spirited discussion about the clemency process, including reviewing lessons learned from the recent success in the case of Kenneth Foster. One of the chief aspects of that success was the large support system Kenneth had personally developed, consisting of his family and network of friends. This core group was able to work with Texas anti-death penalty organizations as well as international organizations in effectively publicizing his issues well ahead of the deadline for his clemency application.
Early recognition of potential clemency issues prisoners who want to seek clemency might have is important. In most cases, when a prisoner receives an execution date, there is not a pathway for those issues to come to light soon enough to be useful in a campaign. Personal support groups can help fill this gap.
Everyone who attended received a packet of helpful contact information and a Capital Defense Handbook provided by Equal Justice USA. A conclusion that was reached by the group was that anti-death penalty and advocacy organizations should develop a booklet of helpful information including contact information to be given to families, if possible, at the pre-trial stage of a capital case.