Discussions With DPIC
Items: 71 — 79
Discussions With DPIC
The Duane Buck Case
Race, Future Dangerousness, and the Death Penalty, with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s Christina Swarns
Published: Jun 28, 2017
Christina Swarns, litigation director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, speaks with DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham about the case of Texas death-row prisoner Duane Buck and the impact of racial bias on determinations of future dangerousness in death penalty cases. Ms. Swarns represented Mr. Buck in the U.S. Supreme Court in overturning his death sentence after his own lawyer presented an expert witness who gave racially biased testimony that Mr. Buck posed an increased…
Discussions With DPIC
Lawyers for the Condemned
Scott Braden and Julie Vandiver discuss Arkansas’s April 2017 executions
Published: May 30, 2017
In April 2017, Arkansas scheduled a record eight executions in eleven days. Four ultimately were stayed, and four were carried out. DPIC staff members Robin Konrad and Anne Holsinger interview Scott Braden and Julie Vandiver, two of the lawyers who represented the condemned Arkansas prisoners. Scott and Julie discuss the legal issues in the cases, describe the controversial executions, and explain what comes next for the prisoners whose executions were stayed. CONTENT NOTE: This episode…
Discussions With DPIC
Arkansas’ plan to execute seven prisoners over an 11-day period
Published: Apr 13, 2017
DPIC staff members Robert Dunham, Robin Konrad, and Anne Holsinger explain Arkansas’ plan to execute seven prisoners over an 11-day period beginning April 17. They discuss the state’s reasons for the condensed execution schedule, current litigation related to lethal injection drugs, and the risks of this unprecedented rate of executions. Additional background information on the Arkansas’ executions is available…
Discussions With DPIC
Discussions With DPIC — Women and the Death Penalty, with Professor Mary Atwell
Published: Mar 24, 2017
In observance of Women’s History Month, DPIC staff members Anne Holsinger and Robin Konrad interview Mary Atwell, Ph.D., one of the nation’s foremost experts on women on death row. Dr. Atwell is Professor Emerita of Criminal Justice at Radford University and author of three books on capital punishment, most recently Wretched Sisters: Examining Gender and Capital Punishment. The podcast discusses Dr. Atwell’s research and highlights the themes and patterns present in capital murder cases in…
Discussions With DPIC
Innocence and Prosecutorial Misconduct
with Exoneree Isaiah McCoy and Lawyers Michael Wiseman and Herbert Mondros
Published: Feb 16, 2017
Robin Konrad, Director of Research and Special Projects, interviews Isaiah McCoy, the nation’s 157th death-row exoneree, and his lawyers, Michael Wiseman and Herbert Mondros. McCoy was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in Delaware in 2012. After winning a new trial in 2015, he was acquitted of all charges in January 2017. McCoy’s case featured several systemic problems that plague the death penalty system: a lack of physical evidence, eyewitnesses who received deals from the prosecutor…
Discussions With DPIC
2016 Year End Report
Another Record Decline in Death Penalty Use
Published: Dec 22, 2016
DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham and Director of Research and Special Projects Robin Konrad discuss the findings and themes of the 2016 DPIC Year End Report. This year marked historic lows in death sentences, executions, and public support for the death penalty. They explore the reasons for the declines, look at what this year’s election results say about the death penalty, and describe the cases that resulted in executions this…
Discussions With DPIC
Intellectual Disability and the Death Penalty, With Law Professor John Blume
The U.S. Supreme Court Prepares to Hear Oral Argument in Moore v. Texas
Published: Nov 28, 2016
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear oral argument in Moore v. Texas and consider the constitutionality of the state’s approach to deciding whether a defendant is intellectually disabled, Cornell Law School Professor John Blume joins us to share his expertise on intellectual disability and the death penalty. He provides context on the Supreme Court’s 2002 decision, Atkins v. Virginia, which banned the execution of defendants with intellectual disabilities, and describes the clinical…
Discussions With DPIC
Law professor and author John Bessler
Discussing Justice Stephen Breyer’s historic dissent in Glossip v. Gross
Published: Oct 21, 2016
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…
Discussions With DPIC
Jeffrey Wood and the Texas Law of Parties
with Expert Guest Kate Black
Published: Sep 14, 2016
Today, DPIC launches a new podcast series, “Discussions With DPIC,” which will feature monthly, unscripted conversations with death penalty experts on a wide variety of topics. The inaugural episode features a conversation between Texas Defender Services staff attorney Kate Black and DPIC host Anne Holsinger, who discuss the case of Jeffrey Wood and Texas’ unusual legal doctrine known as the “law of parties.” Wood’s case garnered national media attention because he was sentenced to death…