Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Vance, Kathryn B." <>]

Good Afternoon,

 

Has anyone had Jennifer Thompson speak on their campus?  Campus Life is considering bringing her next year and we were hoping to get some feedback on any experience with her.  The description we received is below.  Thanks so much!

 

Picking Cotton. This is a NC story about Jennifer Thompson who is an advocate for judicial reform, combatting sexual violence, death penalty abolition, the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, and the healing power of forgiveness. Her strong convictions were born of a brutal rape suffered as a 22-year-old college student at Elon University. Her testimony sent an innocent young man to a life term in prison. That man, Ronald Cotton, was eventually freed thanks to his persistence in maintaining his innocence and newly developed DNA tests which identified the true perpetrator. Jennifer credits Ronald with teaching her the healing power of forgiveness and grace.

Together, they co-authored Picking Cotton, a memoir and New York Times best-seller that recounts the tragedy that brought them together, and outlines the importance of reforms to alleviate such significant errors and the roles that apology and forgiveness play in individual happiness and growth. They have successfully lobbied state legislators on various causes, including changing compensation laws for the wrongly convicted, abolishing the death penalty and revising witness line-up procedures. She was a member of the North Carolina Actual Innocence Commission and worked with the state's legislature to pass the Racial Justice Act. She has appeared on media leading outlets, featured in the Sundance Film Festival Winner, After Innocence, and her writing has been featured in The New York Times, the Durham Herald-Sun, NPR'sThis I Believe, and other outlets.

In April 2015, Jennifer and Ronald were awarded the prestigious National Crime Victim Service Award, from Attorney General, Eric Holder, which honors extraordinary individuals and programs that provide services to victims of crime.

 

 

Katie Vance, M.Ed., VSP

Victim Advocate

CARE Violence Prevention & Response

University of North Carolina, Wilmington

601 S. College Road

DePaolo Hall 212

Wilmington, NC 28403-5939

Phone: 910-962-7514

Fax: 910-962-7374

 

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