Ten law students from the University of Warwick are about to travel to the United States to help provide legal representation on behalf of prisoners who have been sentenced to death.

Warwick’s Death Penalty Project, which is now in its 10th year, is run through the Centre for Human Rights in Practice and has proved to be a life-changing experience for dozens of aspiring lawyers. As well as sending students to the US, Warwick also has around 120 volunteers currently providing ongoing remote assistance to US capital defence attorneys through research support work.

Dina Alawneh, who graduates this summer following a three-year law degree, is about to start her second internship, after spending last summer at Louisiana Capital Assistance Centre (LCAC). You can read about her experience here.

The Centre's death penalty project has also been mentioned in the Times Higher Education and in the Coventry Telegraph.

The Centre has also hosted visits by Russell Stetler from the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Oakland, California, who co-ordinates federal death penalty projects which aim to ensure people facing capital punishment receive effective legal representation in that area. During his last visit he was interviewed by Lacuna, a human rights magazine also hosted at the Centre for Human Rights in Practice.

More information about opportunities for Warwick students to become involved in 2015/2016 can be found on the Centre's website.