WHO: Former Illinois Governor George Ryan and author/attorney Scott Turow.

WHAT: Will speak about the impact of race in the administration of the death penalty at a conference sponsored by the Center for Justice in Capital Cases at DePaul University. The center, which defends people accused of capital crimes, represented Illinois death row inmate Madison Hobley, who was one of four men granted clemency by Ryan during a press conference held at the DePaul University College of Law in January.

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 25, 2003. Turow is scheduled to speak at 11:15 a.m., and Ryan will give closing remarks for the conference at noon.

WHERE: The DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson, Blvd., Room 8005.

The conference will examine the role race plays in how people are tried, convicted and sentenced to die in this country. According to a 2003 study published by Amnesty International, 40 percent of the current death row inmates in the United States are African-American, while African-Americans account for only 12 percent of the U.S. population. While African-Americans and whites were victims of the estimated 500,000 murders in America since 1977 in almost equal proportions, 80 percent of the people executed during that time were convicted of murdering whites. And, according to Amnesty, at least one in five African-Americans executed since 1977 had been convicted by all-white juries.

Ryan will discuss his unprecedented move to commute to life imprisonment the death sentences of all Illinois death row inmates. Attorney and author Scott Turow will discuss his experiences being a member of Ryan’s task force that studied the death penalty. He also will discuss his newest book, “Ultimate Punishment” (2003, Farrar Straus & Giroux), which reflects on capital punishment.