Discussions With DPIC

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Discussions With DPIC

Shedding Light on Underreported Stories of Incarceration and Death Row — conversation with Keri Blakinger

Published: Feb 15, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Keri Blakinger, a jour­nal­ist at the Los Angeles Times and for­mer reporter for the Marshall Project — a non­prof­it news orga­ni­za­tion focused on the U.S. crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. At the Marshall Project, Ms. Blakinger wrote sto­ries about the human beings in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem — a focus that is still a pri­or­i­ty in her report­ing with Los Angeles Times.

Discussions With DPIC

Life After Death Row with Anthony Graves

Published: Jan 18, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with for­mer death-sen­tenced pris­on­er Anthony Graves. Exonerated from Texas’ death row in 2010, Mr. Graves has since become an advo­cate for crim­i­nal jus­tice reform, cre­at­ing the Anthony Graves Foundation, work­ing with the ACLU and Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and tes­ti­fy­ing before the U.S. Senate on prison con­di­tions. Mr. Graves has also authored an auto­bi­og­ra­phy titled Infinite Hope: How Wrongful Conviction, Solitary Confinement and 12 Years on Death Row Failed to Kill My Soul.

Discussions With DPIC

Classifying Capital Punishment as Torture with John Bessler

Published: Dec 08, 2023

In this mon­th’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with John Bessler (pic­tured), of Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Professor Bessler is the author of sev­er­al books on the death penal­ty, includ­ing his 2023 book The Death Penalty’s Denial of Fundamental Human Rights: International Law, State Practice, and the Emerging Abolitionist Norm. In his most recent book, Professor Bessler argues that the death penal­ty should be clas­si­fied as tor­ture, which would pro­hib­it its use under inter­na­tion­al law and treaties. The…

Discussions With DPIC

Gender and the Death Penalty with Sandra Babcock

Published: Nov 28, 2023

In this month’s Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Sandra Babcock (pic­tured), Clinical Professor at Cornell Law School, Faculty Director, and founder of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Ms. Babcock’s clin­ic cur­rent­ly rep­re­sents death sen­tenced women in the United States, Malawi, and Tanzania and is focused on pro­vid­ing defense teams in reten­tion­ist coun­tries with train­ing and con­sul­ta­tion in order to pro­vide the best pos­si­ble legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion for indi­vid­u­als fac­ing sen­tences of death. The Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide also pro­duces research highlighting…

Discussions With DPIC

How A British Charity Works to Assist US Capital Defenders

Published: Nov 02, 2023

In this month’s Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Margot Ravenscroft, the Executive Director of AMICUS UK, a British char­i­ty that works to sup­port the cap­i­tal defense effort in the United States. Ms. Ravenscroft describes how AMICUS was found­ed by a British woman who became a pen friend with a Louisiana death row pris­on­er and returned to the UK after his exe­cu­tion, deter­mined to pro­vide assis­tance for those still on death row. Ms. Ravenscroft describes why the orga­ni­za­tion trains and sup­ports British lawyers and law firms to…

Discussions With DPIC

Evangelical Pastor Rich Nathan Discusses How a Culture of Life” Informs His Opposition to the Death Penalty

Published: Sep 25, 2023

In the September 2023 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Anne Holsinger, Managing Director of DPIC, speaks with Pastor Rich Nathan, found­ing pas­tor of Vineyard Columbus, an evan­gel­i­cal Christian church based in Ohio. Mr. Nathan shares his pro-life per­spec­tive and explains how reli­gious teach­ings inform his posi­tion on the death penalty.

Discussions With DPIC

Dr. Roya Boroumand

Dr. Roya Boroumand discusses capital punishment in Iran

Published: Aug 31, 2023

In the August 2023 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Anne Holsinger, Managing Director of DPIC, speaks with Dr. Roya Boroumand, Executive Director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran. A spe­cial­ist in Iran’s post-World War 2 his­to­ry, Dr. Boroumand pro­vides his­tor­i­cal con­text for ongo­ing events and dis­cuss­es the cur­rent increase in exe­cu­tions. With the one-year anniver­sary of Mahsa Jina Amini’s death approach­ing, Dr. Boroumand also­high­lights the inter­na­tion­al community’s response to this event and the protests that followed.

Discussions With DPIC

Kirk Bloodsworth, Thirty Years After His Exoneration

Published: Jul 21, 2023

In the July 2023 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Anne Holsinger, Managing Director of DPIC, speaks with Kirk Bloodsworth, the first per­son exon­er­at­ed from death row by DNA evi­dence. Mr. Bloodsworth reflects on the thir­ty years since his exon­er­a­tion and dis­cuss­es the expe­ri­ence of being wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed. He also describes the work he and oth­er exonerees have done, and how the issue of inno­cence has affect­ed leg­is­la­tion on the death penalty.

Discussions With DPIC

Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty with Tiana Herring

Published: Jun 26, 2023

In the June 2023 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Managing Director Anne Holsinger and Data Storyteller Tiana Herring dis­cuss the lat­est Racial Justice Storytelling Report, Doomed to Repeat: The Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty. The report exam­ines the his­to­ry of Tennessee’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem, doc­u­ment­ing the con­tin­ued impact of racial dis­crim­i­na­tion and racial vio­lence on the admin­is­tra­tion of the death penal­ty. Ms. Herring, the author, pro­vides an overview of the report, explores key find­ings, explains its rela­tion­ship to DPIC’s ear­li­er work, and identifies…