Victims of Crime and Punishment

“Joseph Brown confessed to a burglary he committed with an accomplice, who got even by accusing Brown of a murder. Brown was convicted and sentenced to die, although the accomplice failed a polygraph test and admitted he lied. Brown, who came within hours of execution, was released after 13 years on death row”—from a chapter on a victim of punishment.
“It was a pretty rough time and we prayed that Yusuf would be found alive. Eighteen days after he disappeared, they found his body in an abandoned school…. After the funeral I was still in shock and not wanting to believe that my Yusuf would never again put his arms around my neck”—from a mother’s story about her murdered son.
This thought-provoking collection of interviews provides an insight into the multifaceted issue of victims. Topics include personal accounts, support and survival, and voices for reform. Also discussed are organizations that provide assistance to victims.

Shirley Dicks is the author of 12 books, which are listed on her website at www.shirleydicks.org. She lives in Beechgrove, Tennessee.

Shirley Dicks
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 174
Bibliographic Info:
Copyright Date: 2012 [1991]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6945-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9198-8
Imprint: McFarland

I. Victims of Crime

Personal Accounts

Debbie C. Darbois-Lowe, Daughter of Murder Victim      3

Trevor Dicks, Mugging Victim      10

Camille Bell, Mother of Murdered Child      14

Pat Bare, Relative of Murder Victim      18

M. Kerry Kennedy, Daughter of Robert Kennedy      21

Coretta Scott King, Widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.      22

Annie, Sexually Abused Child      23

Support and Survival

Parents of Murdered Children      27

National Organization for Victim Assistance      30

Victim Service Agency      33

Hope for Bereaved Parents      37

The Compassionate Friends      41

Mennonite Central Committee      43

Women’s Self Help Center      46

National Victim Center      48

Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund      52

Help Our Children Exist      54

Victims for Victims      55

Victims Outreach      59

Project Hope      61

National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women      63

On Dealing with a Violent Death      65

Surviving When Someone You Love Was Murdered      66

II. Victims of Punishment

Personal Accounts

Shirley Dicks, Mother of Death Row Inmate      75

Wrongful Convictions      87

Zel Morris, Wife of Death Row Inmate      94

Sarah Easley, Mother of Executed Son      99

To Those Who Murdered Jimmy Wingo      104

Benjamin Alers, Vietnam Veteran Convicted of Murder      108

Shabaka Waglini, Victim of 14 Years on Death Row      110

Marie Deans, Death Penalty Legal Defense Coordinator      114

Maria Dicks, Daughter of Death Row Inmate      118

Anthony Guest, Death Row Inmate      120

James Earl Ray, Victim of Society      122

Support and Voices for Reform

People Against the Death Penalty      141

Southern Prisoners’ Defense Committee      144

Reconciliation Ministries      147

Death Penalty Resistance Project      149

Tennessee’s Death Row      151

Amnesty International      155

Mothers Opposed to Maltreatment of Service Members      158

The Death Penalty as a Human Rights Issue      160

“victims of crime and punishment relate their stories of pain, anger and fear…included is information about organizations that provide support”—Criminal Justice Abstracts; “useful…powerful”—Victim Support.