The Final Full Day...
Tuesday began in the rain - and ended in the rain. Following breakfast, in Plenary we heard an address by Vicki Shearer. Here daughter Shannonwas raped and murdered on May 7, 1998 while finishing her first year of graduate school on a full scholarship at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Shannon’s killer was not arrested until 2002. He is serving several life sentences without parole in Colorado and Pennsylvania not only for Shannon’s rape and murder but for 13 other sexual assaults as well. In a very emotional account filled with details about errors the police made and the way that the criminal justice system re-victimized her and her family she told her story and Shannon's story. She has taught many high school and university classes on abolition, run workshops at state conferences, and published op-ed pieces in newspapers including the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Washington Post. She also has met with and testified before state...