Bill Pelke tells of the life-alter­ing trans­for­ma­tion that occurred after his 78-year-old grand­moth­er was mur­dered by four teen-aged girls in his book, Journey of Hope…From Violence to Healing. Though at first he sup­port­ed the death penal­ty for 15-year-old Paula Cooper, one of the young girls who had mur­dered his grand­moth­er in her home for $10 and an old car, he lat­er opposed her exe­cu­tion and suc­cess­ful­ly fought to have Cooper’s death sen­tence over­turned. The book fol­lows his per­son­al jour­ney over many years and fea­tures a for­ward by Sister Helen Prejean. 

(Xlibris Corporation, September 2003). See Victims, Juvenile Death Penalty, and Books.

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