Death row inmates from around the coun­try will present a $5,000 col­lege schol­ar­ship to Zach Osborne, the broth­er of a 4‑year-old mur­der vic­tim, who plans to attend East Carolina University to pur­sue a career in law enforce­ment. The schol­ar­ship is an annu­al award giv­en by those on death row who par­tic­i­pate in the pub­li­ca­tion of ​“Compassion,” a newslet­ter that pro­vides a forum for com­mu­ni­ca­tion between con­vict­ed offend­ers and mur­der vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. Each year, a mur­der vic­tim’s fam­i­ly mem­ber is cho­sen to receive the funds based on the results of an essay com­pe­ti­tion. In his essay, Osborne wrote, ​“Natalie’s death has haunt­ed my fam­i­ly since the day she was found.… Through real­iz­ing this dream (of becom­ing a law enforce­ment offi­cer), I would play a key role in pre­vent­ing sit­u­a­tions like this from ever hap­pen­ing again.” Dennis Skillicorn, who is on Missouri’s death row and serves as cur­rent edi­tor of ​“Compassion,” stat­ed that the schol­ar­ship ​“gives every one of us — regard­less of our liv­ing con­di­tions — an oppor­tu­ni­ty to restore some of what we’ve torn down.” Osborne will receive his schol­ar­ship dur­ing a 10 a.m. press con­fer­ence host­ed by the Greensboro Police Department on June 7.

Since July 2001, the pris­on­ers have award­ed $27,000 in schol­ar­ships. A free copy of ​“Compassion” is giv­en to each per­son on death row in the United States. The newslet­ter’s pub­li­ca­tion and its annu­al schol­ar­ship are fund­ed by sub­scrip­tions from the gen­er­al pub­lic and oth­er donors. Members of St. Rose Parish in Perrysburg, Ohio, over­see the newslet­ter’s fund­ing and no death row inmate prof­its by par­tic­i­pat­ing in its pub­li­ca­tion. (Compassion Press Release, June 2, 2005). See New Voices and Victims.

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