Law pro­fes­sor and author John Bessler

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Law pro­fes­sor and author John Bessler joins DPIC exec­u­tive direc­tor Robert Dunham to dis­cuss ​“Against the Death Penalty,” a book ver­sion of Justice Stephen Breyer’s his­toric dis­sent in *Glossip v. Gross* in which he ques­tions the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the death penal­ty. Professor Bessler edit­ed the book and wrote an exten­sive intro­duc­tion explain­ing the sig­nif­i­cance of the opin­ion. In a wide-rang­ing con­ver­sa­tion, Bessler and Dunham dis­cuss the dis­sent itself, the nation­al con­text of the deci­sion, and the pos­si­ble effects of an 8‑member Supreme Court.