The Center for Justice in Capital Cases at the DePaul University College of Law will celebrate its fifth anniversary on Wednesday, May 31, with a benefit at the University Club of Chicago. The event includes a 6 p.m. reception and dinner. Call (312) 362-5837 for reservations.

Keynote speaker is Sister Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States,” who has devoted her life to prison ministry since 1981.

In addition to lecturing and writing about the death penalty, she counsels death row inmates and families of murder victims, and is the founder of Survive, a New Orleans victim advocacy group.

The Center for Justice in Capital Cases was established to create a higher standard of practice through vigorous advocacy, formal training of capital defense lawyers, and a client-centered philosophy.

Its training programs include the Clarence Darrow Death Penalty Defense College, the Mitigation College and the Defense Investigator Certificate Program. The center also teaches law student participants in its Death Penalty Clinic.

From May 31 to June 2, the Clarence Darrow Death Penalty Defense College will be in session at DePaul, and from June 12 to 17, the Mitigation Training College will be conducted.