DPIC is proud to present its latest podcast, featuring award-winning author John Bessler discussing the historical roots of the death penalty and the current problem of arbitrariness in its application. Bessler is a law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and author of Cruel and Unusual: The American Death Penalty and the Founders’ Eighth Amendment. Prof. Bessler shares his expertise on the surprising resistance to capital punishment among some of the nation’s founders and explores major Supreme Court decisions on this issue. He explains why the death penalty is open to constitutional challenge because its application is influenced by race, geography, and quality of representation. Click here to listen to the podcast or download it for future use.

DPIC’s podcasts offer concise, informative discussions of important death penalty issues, suitable for educational use. Other recent episodes include the story of Larry Smith, an Alabama death row inmate who was freed, and a discussion in Spanish about the death penalty. You can receive new episodes and access previous episodes through iTunes. Other audio and video resources, along with all of DPIC’s podcasts, can be found on our Multimedia page. Most of our podcasts are also available on our iPhone or iPad App.

(“Arbitrariness and the Constitution,” DPIC podcast, posted Mar. 1, 2013). See also Arbitrariness.

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