The BBC doc­u­men­tary ​“Lethal Solution” chron­i­cles reporter Vivian White’s explo­ration of the death penal­ty in the US through the prism of the lethal injec­tion issue. White trav­eled across the US to exe­cu­tion cham­bers where lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions are car­ried out and inter­viewed par­tic­i­pants from a wide vari­ety of perspectives.


The doc­u­men­tary fea­tures judges, doc­tors, and men on death row. White inter­viewed the fam­i­ly of a man whose exe­cu­tion last­ed 34 min­utes and a lawyer who wit­nessed that event, vivid­ly recall­ing the details. He spoke with the doc­tor who first pro­posed the lethal injec­tion sys­tem, and to the judge in California who rec­om­mend­ed that med­ical­ly-qual­i­fied peo­ple should be present at exe­cu­tions to ensure a humane death. In the California case, two doc­tors walked out of the exe­cu­tion cham­ber when they real­ized they might have to assist in the killing. The exe­cu­tion was called off.

The full 48-minute doc­u­men­tary may be viewed on the BBC Web site here.

(V. White, ​“Lethal Solution,” BBC, March 18, 2008; pro­duced by Steven Grandison). See also Lethal Injection and Multimedia.

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