DPIC Podcasts

Items: 11 — 20


Discussions With DPIC

Ron McAndrew, Former Florida Warden Who Presided Over Executions

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 himself.

Discussions With DPIC

Protecting Especially Vulnerable Defendants from the Death Penalty

A Discussion with Karen Steele

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 late-ado­les­cent defen­dants of col­or are dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly sen­tenced to death.

Discussions With DPIC

Former Prison Superintendent Frank Thompson on How Executions Affect Corrections Officers

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 exe­cu­tions cre­at­ed an addi­tion­al group of vic­tims” among the prison staff. Seeing the stress it caused him…

Discussions With DPIC

Georgetown Racial Justice Institute Director Diann Rust-Tierney on Reconceptualizing the U.S. Death Penalty as a Violation of Fundamental Human Rights

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 keep var­i­ous races in their place.” Rust-Tierney says that racial dis­par­i­ties in the…

Discussions With DPIC

DPIC’s New Report on the Racial History of Oklahoma’s Death Penalty

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 from Oklahoma’s expe­ri­ence that are applic­a­ble nationwide.

Discussions With DPIC

Former Governor Brad Henry and Former U.S. Magistrate Judge Andy Lester, co-Chairs of the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, Call for Halt to Executions

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 adopted.

Discussions With DPIC

The DPIC Death Penalty Census

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 1972. The data, Dunham says, reveal a sys­tem that is rife with error, filled…

Discussions With DPIC

35 Years After McCleskey v. Kemp, Prof. Alexis Hoag Discusses the Decision’s Legacy

Published: May 11, 2022

In the May 2022 episode of Discussions With DPIC, Professor Alexis Hoag (pic­tured) of Brooklyn Law School joined DPIC Deputy Director Ngozi Ndulue for a wide-rang­ing con­ver­sa­tion mark­ing the 35th anniver­sary of McCleskey v. Kemp, a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court deci­sion that reject­ed a con­sti­tu­tion­al chal­lenge to the death penal­ty that showed strong sta­tis­ti­cal evi­dence of racial dis­par­i­ties in cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions and death sen­tences. Professor Hoag, for­mer­ly an attor­ney at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (“LDF”), describes the deci­sion as crit­i­cal­ly impor­tant to our under­stand­ing of the…

Discussions With DPIC

Prof. Meredith Rountree on What Influences Death Penalty Jurors’ Moral Decisionmaking

Published: Mar 31, 2022

In the March 2022 episode of Discussions With DPIC, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Senior Lecturer Meredith Rountree speaks with Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham about her study of the types of evi­dence that influ­ence juror deci­sion-mak­ing at the sen­tenc­ing stage of cap­i­tal cas­es. Rountree and her co-author Dr. Mary Rose of the University of Texas, reviewed and ana­lyzed 176 ver­dict forms com­plet­ed by juries in fed­er­al death penal­ty cas­es, focus­ing on three legal­ly con­tro­ver­sial areas of mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence that juries found to be impor­tant to their…

Discussions With DPIC

Rep. Renny Cushing on Empowering Crime Survivors and Repealing New Hampshire’s Death Penalty

Published: Mar 30, 2022

New Hampshire State Representative Renny Cushing passed away ear­li­er this month. In mem­o­ry of Cushing’s life and lega­cy, DPIC is reis­su­ing the June 2019 pod­cast in which Cushing spoke with DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham. Cushing described the life-alter­ing expe­ri­ence of hav­ing a close fam­i­ly mem­ber mur­dered and his jour­ney from being a mur­der-fam­i­ly sur­vivor to spear­head­ing New Hampshire’s repeal of the death penalty.