DPI Podcasts

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Published: Mar 21, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Judge Elsa Alcala, who served on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals from 2011 to 2018. In addi­tion to serv­ing as a judge at the appeals and tri­al lev­el, she worked as a pros­e­cu­tor, crim­i­nal defense attor­ney, and most recent­ly as a jus­tice-reform lob­by­ist dur­ing her three-decade career in crim­i­nal law. She shares how these expe­ri­ences have informed her per­spec­tive on the…

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Published: Feb 15, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Keri Blakinger, a jour­nal­ist at the Los Angeles Times and for­mer reporter for the Marshall Project — a non­prof­it news orga­ni­za­tion focused on the U.S. crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. At the Marshall Project, Ms. Blakinger wrote sto­ries about the human beings in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem — a focus that is still a pri­or­i­ty in her reporting…

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Published: Jan 18, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with for­mer death-sen­­tenced pris­on­er Anthony Graves. Exonerated from Texas’ death row in 2010, Mr. Graves has since become an advo­cate for crim­i­nal jus­tice reform, cre­at­ing the Anthony Graves Foundation, work­ing with the ACLU and Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and tes­ti­fy­ing before the U.S. Senate on prison con­di­tions. Mr. Graves has also authored an…

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Published: Dec 08, 2023

In this mon­th’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with John Bessler (pic­tured), of Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Professor Bessler is the author of sev­er­al books on the death penal­ty, includ­ing his 2023 book The Death Penalty’s Denial of Fundamental Human Rights: International Law, State Practice, and the Emerging Abolitionist Norm. In his most recent book, Professor Bessler argues that the death…

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Published: Nov 28, 2023

In this month’s Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Sandra Babcock (pic­tured), Clinical Professor at Cornell Law School, Faculty Director, and founder of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Ms. Babcock’s clin­ic cur­rent­ly rep­re­sents death sen­tenced women in the United States, Malawi, and Tanzania and is focused on pro­vid­ing defense teams in reten­tion­ist coun­tries with train­ing and con­sul­ta­tion in order to pro­vide the best…

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Published: Nov 02, 2023

In this month’s Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Margot Ravenscroft, the Executive Director of AMICUS UK, a British char­i­ty that works to sup­port the cap­i­tal defense effort in the United States. Ms. Ravenscroft describes how AMICUS was found­ed by a British woman who became a pen friend with a Louisiana death row pris­on­er and returned to the UK after his exe­cu­tion, deter­mined to pro­vide assis­tance for those still on death row. Ms. Ravenscroft…

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Published: Sep 25, 2023

In the September 2023 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Anne Holsinger, Managing Director of DPIC, speaks with Pastor Rich Nathan, found­ing pas­tor of Vineyard Columbus, an evan­gel­i­cal Christian church based in Ohio. Mr. Nathan shares his pro-life per­spec­tive and explains how reli­gious teach­ings inform his posi­tion on the…

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Published: Aug 31, 2023

In the August 2023 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Anne Holsinger, Managing Director of DPIC, speaks with Dr. Roya Boroumand, Executive Director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran. A spe­cial­ist in Iran’s post-World War 2 his­to­ry, Dr. Boroumand pro­vides his­tor­i­cal con­text for ongo­ing events and dis­cuss­es the cur­rent increase in exe­cu­tions. With the one-year anniver­sary of Mahsa Jina Amini’s death approach­ing, Dr. Boroumand alsohighlights the…

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

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…

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

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…