DPIC Podcasts

Discussions With DPIC

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…

Discussions With DPIC

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,…

Discussions With DPIC

Published: May 31, 2023

In the lat­est episode of Discussions with DPIC, Anne Holsinger, Managing Director of DPIC, inter­views Dr. Sally Satel (pic­tured), a psy­chi­a­trist and senior fel­low at the American Enterprise Institute. She shares her insights on the role of severe men­tal ill­ness in death penalty…

Discussions With DPIC

Published: Apr 27, 2023

In the lat­est episode of ​“Discussions with DPIC,” Anne Holsinger, Managing Director of DPIC, inter­views Ron McAndrew, a for­mer Florida Prison Warden who wit­nessed exe­cu­tions using elec­tro­cu­tion and lethal injec­tion in Florida and Texas. He offers reflec­tions on the neg­a­tive impact that exe­cu­tions have on the fam­i­lies of both the vic­tim and the con­demned, the cor­rec­tion­al offi­cers, and on…

Discussions With DPIC

Published: Mar 23, 2023

In the lat­est episode of ​“Discussions with DPIC,” Robert Dunham, for­mer Executive Director of DPIC inter­views Karen Steele (pic­tured), a researcher and defense attor­ney in Oregon, regard­ing the spe­cial char­ac­ter­is­tics of late ado­les­cent defen­dants fac­ing the death penal­ty. Research by Steele and oth­ers points to the incom­plete brain devel­op­ment in those aged 18 – 21 and how that can be exac­er­bat­ed in those suf­fer­ing from fetal alco­hol spec­trum dis­or­der. The research has also found that…

Discussions With DPIC

Published: Feb 21, 2023

In the February 2023 edi­tion of Discussions with DPIC, for­mer Oregon Superintendent of Prisons Frank Thompson speaks with DPIC Managing Director Anne Holsinger about how his expe­ri­ences as a cor­rec­tions offi­cer — as well as being a mur­der victim’s fam­i­ly mem­ber — have affect­ed his views on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Thompson over­saw the only two exe­cu­tions per­formed in Oregon in the past 50 years and was respon­si­ble for devel­op­ing the exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. He said the process of performing…

Discussions With DPIC

Published: Jan 06, 2023

Longtime civ­il and human rights lawyer, Diann Rust-Tierney, the exec­u­tive direc­tor of Georgetown University’s Racial Justice Institute, joins DPIC exec­u­tive direc­tor Robert Dunham for a dis­cus­sion of race, human rights, and the U.S. death penal­ty. Prof. Rust-Tierney argues that the death penal­ty has long been mis­per­ceived as a nor­mal pub­lic safe­ty tool. The real­i­ty, she says, is that ​“from its very begin­ning in his­to­ry, [the death penal­ty] was part of a legal and social sys­tem designed to…

Discussions With DPIC

Published: Oct 31, 2022

In the October 2022 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Deputy Director Ngozi Ndulue and Data Storyteller Tiana Herring dis­cuss DPIC’s recent­ly released report Deeply Rooted: How Racial History Informs Oklahoma’s Death Penalty. The report looks at the racial his­to­ry, present, and future of Oklahoma’s death penal­ty. Ndulue and Herring explore Oklahoma’s unique his­to­ry, the key find­ings of the report, its rela­tion­ship to DPIC’s ear­li­er work, and lessons…

Discussions With DPIC

Published: Aug 24, 2022

Former Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and for­mer U.S. Magistrate Judge Andy Lester, who co-chaired the bipar­ti­san Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, join DPIC exec­u­tive direc­tor Robert Dunham in the August 2022 Discussions With DPIC pod­cast. Governor Henry, a Democrat, and Judge Lester, a Republican, dis­cuss the find­ings of the commission’s review that led them to call for a halt to the state’s planned exe­cu­tions of 25 pris­on­ers, at least until sig­nif­i­cant reforms have been…

Discussions With DPIC

Published: Jul 20, 2022

In the July 2022 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham and 2021 – 2022 DPIC Data Fellow Aimee Breaux dis­cuss the mak­ing of DPIC’s ground­break­ing Death Penalty Census data­base and some of its key find­ings. The project, the cul­mi­na­tion of near­ly five years of work, tracks the demo­graph­ics and sta­tus of more than 9,700 death sen­tences imposed across the U.S. since the Supreme Court struck down exist­ing death penal­ty statutes in…