缺席

"Whenever any of us are taken by violence, by death, the chair at the table becomes empty because none of us can ever be replaced." Sister Helen Prejean, author 'Dead Man Walking' The Empty Chair tells four stories of murder victims' families reliving the crimes and confronting the loss of loved ones. Their instinct for revenge during trial and the debate for punishment by death climaxes in a search to forgive and heal. Sue Norton's step-parents are murdered yet she is compelled not only to forgive the killer, but also to forge a friendship with him. Renny Cushing's father is shot gunned to death yet he lobbies for victims' rights and against the death penalty. Suse & Peter Lowenstein's 21-year old son is bombed out of the sky over Lockerbie but they can never forgive the terrorists. Susan Gove Ramunda's daughter is bludgeoned to death and she works tirelessly to keep the death penalty as state law. Other voices in the documentary include Donald Cabana, a former death-row warden whose first-hand experiences with the execution system unfold in chilling detail; and a nun, Sister Helen Prejean, who as Spiritual Advisor to inmates sentenced to die, believes that "we are all better than our worst acts."