---
title: 'Elizabeth Vartkessian on Mitigation and "The Deserving"'
description: 'In the March 2026 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Elizabeth Vartkessian (pictured), the…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/resources/podcasts/discussions-with-dpic/elizabeth-vartkessian-on-mitigation-and-the-deserving'
section: podcasts
date: '2026-03-20T09:06:00-04:00'
updated: '2026-03-20T10:10:04-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

In the March 2026 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Elizabeth Vartkessian (pictured), the executive director of Advancing Real Change (ARC), a national non-profit that works to provide mitigation investigation services and training that ensure the full life histories of individuals facing extreme sentences are presented to judges and juries. Ms. Vartkessian is a mitigation specialist who has spent decades investigating the lives and backgrounds of individuals facing the death penalty in order to present mitigating evidence to juries. Her new book, The Deserving: What the Lives of the Condemned Reveal about American Justice, explores her experience in capital defense and her deep professional relationship with Wesley Purkey, a federal prisoner executed in 2020.