A series of programs addressing various issues related to the death penalty will be held beginning Sept. 25 at Appalachian State University. All presentations begin at 6:30 p.m. in Room 114 of Belk Library and Information Commons. The public is invited.

“The Death Penalty in North Carolina, the United States and Beyond” is a collaborative endeavor between ASU’s Department of Government and Justice Studies, Department of Sociology, Office of Multicultural Student Development, ACT Service Learning & Community-Based Research Program and the Center of Social Justice and Human Rights.

The first program begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25. Dr. Trina Seitz from the Department of Sociology will discuss “North Carolina’s Death Penalty History.”

Other programs are:

Oct. 10, “Just the Facts: The Death Penalty in N.C.” by Dr. Matt Robinson from the Department of Criminal Justice and Government Studies.

Oct. 29, “Does the Death Penalty Serve Victims?” presented by Dr. Jean Parks from Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation.

Nov. 6, “Race and Ethnicity and the Death Penalty in N.C.” presented by Dr. Frank Baumgartner from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of Political Science and Dr. Cynthia Caravelis-Hughes from Western Carolina University’s Department of Criminal Justice.

Nov. 27, “Innocence and the Death Penalty in N.C.” with panelists Darryl Hunt, a former inmate wrongfully convicted, Tarrah Callahan from the N.C. Coalition for a Moratorium, Glen Edward Chapman, a former inmate wrongfully convicted, and Dr. Pam Laughton, mitigation specialist and case investigator from UNC Asheville.