Entries tagged with “Podcasts”

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Jul 25, 2023

New DPIC Podcast: Kirk Bloodsworth, Thirty Years After His Exoneration

In the July 2023 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Anne Holsinger, Managing Director of DPIC, speaks with Kirk Bloodsworth (pic­tured), 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…

Policy Issues

Race

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Jun 26, 2023

New DPIC Podcast: DPIC’s New Report on the Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty

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.

Policy Issues

Mental Illness

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Executions Overview

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May 31, 2023

New Podcast: American Enterprise Institute’s Dr. Sally Satel Explains Why People with Severe Mental Illness Should Not Be Eligible for the Death Penalty

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…

Executions

Methods of Execution

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Apr 27, 2023

New Podcast: Discussion with Ron McAndrew, Former Florida Warden Who Presided Over Executions

In the lat­est episode of Discussions with DPIC, Anne Holsinger, Managing Director of DPIC, inter­views Ron McAndrew (pic­tured), 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…

Policy Issues

Youth

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Mental Illness

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Race

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Mar 23, 2023

New Podcast: Protecting Especially Vulnerable Defendants from the Death Penalty — A Discussion with Karen Steele

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…

Policy Issues

Human Rights

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Race

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Jan 06, 2023

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

Longtime civ­il and human rights lawyer, Diann Rust-Tierney, the exec­u­tive direc­tor of Georgetown University’s Racial Justice Institute, joins Death Penalty Information Center exec­u­tive direc­tor Robert Dunham in the first DPIC pod­cast of 2023 for a dis­cus­sion of race, human rights, and the U.S. death…

Policy Issues

Race

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Nov 01, 2022

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

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 2022 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…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Innocence

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Official Misconduct

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Race

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Executions Overview

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Aug 24, 2022

New DPIC Podcast: 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

In the August 2022 Discussions With DPIC pod­cast, for­mer Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and for­mer U.S. Magistrate Judge Andy Lester (pic­tured), two of the co-chairs of the bipar­ti­san Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, call on state offi­cials not to rush for­ward with the state’s planned exe­cu­tion of 25 pris­on­ers. Speaking with DPIC exec­u­tive direc­tor Robert Dunham, Governor Henry, a Democrat, and Judge Lester, a Republican, discuss the…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Race

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Jul 20, 2022

New DPIC Podcast: The Death Penalty Census

Data from fifty years of the mod­ern U.S. death penal­ty reveal ​“a sys­tem that is rife with error, filled with dis­crim­i­na­tion, [and] very, very dif­fi­cult to fair­ly admin­is­ter,” Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham says in the July episode the Discussions with DPIC pod­cast. The episode, a dis­cus­sion between Dunham and 2021 – 2022 DPIC Data Fellow Aimee Breaux about the launch of DPIC’s ground­break­ing Death Penalty Census data­base, was released July 20,…

Policy Issues

Race

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United States Supreme Court

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May 11, 2022

New DPIC Podcast: 35 Years After Controversial Supreme Court Decision, Prof. Alexis Hoag Discusses McCleskey v. Kemp’s Legacy

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…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Race

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Representation

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Clemency

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Feb 25, 2022

New DPIC Podcast: Julius Jones’ Long Road On and Off Oklahoma’s Death Row, and What Comes Next in His Case

In the February 2022 episode of Discussions with DPIC, fed­er­al pub­lic defend­er, Amanda Bass (pic­tured, right), and Justice for Julius advo­cate Cece Jones-Davis (pic­tured, left) speak with Death Penalty Information Center Managing Director Anne Holsinger about the ques­tion­able con­vic­tion and near exe­cu­tion of for­mer Oklahoma death-row pris­on­er, Julius Jones. They dis­cuss how incom­pe­tent representation and…

Policy Issues

Costs

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Deterrence

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Race

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New Voices

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Jan 12, 2022

DPIC Podcast: Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton on Bringing Fairness and Equity to Criminal Legal Reform and Ending the Death Penalty

In the January 2022 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Contra Costa County, California District Attorney Diana Becton (pic­tured), speaks with Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham about the rise in reform pros­e­cu­tors across the coun­try, the inher­ent flaws in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment that led her to work along­side oth­er reform pros­e­cu­tors to end the death penal­ty, and her efforts as dis­trict attor­ney to bring fair­ness and equi­ty to the criminal…

Facts & Research

Recent Legislative Activity

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New Voices

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Dec 02, 2021

New Podcast: Republican State Representative Jean Schmidt on Her Efforts to Abolish the Death Penalty in Ohio

In the December 2021 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Deputy Director Ngozi Ndulue inter­views State Representative Jean Schmidt (pic­tured) about her work as a pri­ma­ry spon­sor of a bill in the Ohio House of Representatives that would abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the state. A long-time Republican elect­ed offi­cial, Rep. Schmidt also served in the U.S. House of Representatives for ten years. She avid­ly supported the…

Policy Issues

Deterrence

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Race

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Aug 31, 2021

New Podcast: Rethinking Public Safety, A Conversation with Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution, Miriam Krinsky

In the third episode of the Discussions with DPIC podcast’s Rethinking Public Safety series, Miriam Krinsky (pic­tured) speaks with DPIC Senior Director of Research and Special Projects Ngozi Ndulue about her expe­ri­ences as a for­mer fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor and the Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP), a net­work of elect­ed pros­e­cu­tors devot­ed to pro­mot­ing fair­ness, equi­ty, com­pas­sion, and fis­cal responsibility in…

Policy Issues

Mental Illness

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Race

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Representation

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Jul 27, 2021

New Podcast: Capital Defense Lawyer Marc Bookman Discusses His New Book and the Systemic Defects that Have Sent the Death Penalty into ​‘A Descending Spiral’

In the July 2021 episode of Discussions with DPIC, DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham talks with Marc Bookman, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation (ACCR), about his crit­i­cal­ly acclaimed new book, A Descending Spiral: Exposing the Death Penalty in 12…

Jun 03, 2021

New Podcast: Rethinking Public Safety, A Conversation with Former Nevada Prison Doctor, Dr. Karen Gedney

In 1989, Nevada prison doc­tor, Dr. Karen Gedney (pic­tured) refused a request by state offi­cials to write a pre­scrip­tion for exe­cu­tion drugs, believ­ing that doing so vio­lat­ed her med­ical oath to do no harm and her duty to pro­vide med­ical care to pris­on­ers. In the sec­ond episode of the Discussions With DPIC podcast’s Rethinking Public Safety series, Dr. Gedney speaks with DPIC Managing Director Anne Holsinger about this and…

Policy Issues

Costs

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Innocence

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Apr 29, 2021

DPIC’s New Podcast Series, Rethinking Public Safety, Debuts with a Discussion with Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro

As a state leg­is­la­tor in 1981, Jim Petro (pic­tured) sup­port­ed a bill to rein­state Ohio​’s death penal­ty after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s pre­vi­ous cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment statute. Later, as Ohio Attorney General, he super­vised 19 exe­cu­tions in the state. Since then, his views have changed and he recent­ly co-authored an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch urg­ing the leg­is­la­ture to repeal the state’s death…

Facts & Research

New Voices

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Conditions on Death Row

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Mar 31, 2021

DPIC Podcast: Ethical-Design Advocate Raphael Sperry on Why the American Institute of Architects Banned Members From Designing Death Chambers

In the March 31, 2021 pod­cast episode of Discussions with DPIC, man­ag­ing direc­tor of DPIC, Anne Holsinger, and Raphael Sperry, pres­i­dent of Architects/​Designers/​Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR), dis­cuss the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) new ethics pol­i­cy pro­hibit­ing mem­bers from design­ing exe­cu­tion cham­bers and death-row soli­tary con­fine­ment cells. ​“Architects have been com­plic­it in human rights abuse by designing…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Race

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Mar 09, 2021

New Podcast: Carine Williams of the Innocence Project Discusses the Death Penalty, Innocence, and ​‘the Function of Freedom’

In the March 2021 edi­tion of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Senior Director of Research and Special Projects Ngozi Ndulue is joined by Carine Williams — the Chief Program Strategy Officer at the Innocence Project — for a con­ver­sa­tion about inno­cence, the death penal­ty, and ​“the func­tion of free­dom.” Reflecting on the gross mis­car­riage of jus­tice exhib­it­ed in wrong­ful con­vic­tions and exon­er­a­tions, Williams stresses two…

Policy Issues

Race

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Jan 21, 2021

New Podcast: ​‘Martinsville 7’ Advocates Seek Posthumous Pardon for 7 Black Men Executed by Virginia After All-White Jury Convicted Them of Raping a White Woman

In February 1951, Virginia exe­cut­ed sev­en Black men on charges they had raped a white woman two years ear­li­er. The ​“Martinsville 7” — Francis DeSales Grayson, Frank Hairston Jr., Howard Hairston, James Luther Hairston, Joe Henry Hampton, Booker T. Millner, and John Clabon Taylor — were inter­ro­gat­ed by police…

Executions

Lethal Injection

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Dec 09, 2020

New DPIC Podcast Discusses the Consequences and Cruelty of Lethal Injection

In the December 2020 episode of Discussions with DPIC, anes­the­si­ol­o­gist Dr. Joel Zivot from Emory University Hospital speaks with Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham about his dis­cov­er­ies from the autop­sies of more than 200 exe­cut­ed pris­on­ers. Those autop­sies revealed the grue­some effects of exe­cu­tion by lethal injec­tion and shat­tered the pop­u­lar myth that lethal injec­tion is a humane and pain­less exe­cu­tion process. Zivot and Dunham also…

Policy Issues

Race

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Nov 25, 2020

New DPIC Podcast Discusses ​‘Racist Roots’ and ​‘Enduring Injustice’ of U.S. Death Penalty

In the November 2020 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Gretchen Engel (pic­tured, left), Executive Director of North Carolina’s Center for Death Penalty Litigation (CDPL), joins Ngozi Ndulue (pic­tured, below), Senior Director of Research and Special Projects at DPIC, for a dis­cus­sion of their orga­ni­za­tions’ recent reports on race and the death penal­ty. This fall, DPIC released Enduring Injustice: The Persistence of Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Death Penalty.

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Official Misconduct

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Oct 20, 2020

‘Keep Your Head Up and Don’t Give Up’ — Exoneree Curtis Flowers Gives an Illuminating First Interview to the In the Dark Podcast

In his first inter­view since his September 24, 2020 exon­er­a­tion, for­mer Mississippi death-row pris­on­er Curtis Flowers (pic­tured) spoke with In the Dark pod­cast host and lead reporter Madeleine Baran about his 24-year jour­ney to free­dom after hav­ing being framed, tried six times, sent to death row and final­ly freed for a mur­der every­one involved knew full well he had never…

Facts & Research

Clemency

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Oct 15, 2020

New DPIC Podcast: Former Illinois Governor George Ryan on Commuting Death Row and His Journey from Death-Penalty Supporter to Abolitionist

In the October 2020 episode of Discussions with DPIC, for­mer Illinois Governor George Ryan speaks with Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham about the events that per­suad­ed him to com­mute the death sen­tences of all 167 death-row pris­on­ers in Illinois in 2003. Ryan and Dunham delve into the Governor’s jour­ney from death-penal­ty sup­port­er as an Illinois state leg­is­la­tor to death-penal­ty oppo­nent as Illinois gov­er­nor, and dis­cuss his new…

Facts & Research

United States Supreme Court

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Native Americans

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Federal Death Penalty

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Oct 01, 2020

New Podcast: Native American Rights Fund Lawyer Joel Williams on Tribal Sovereignty and the U.S. Death Penalty

In the September 30, 2020 episode of the Discussions With DPIC pod­cast, Native American Rights Fund senior staff attor­ney Joel Williams joins Death Penalty Information Center exec­u­tive direc­tor Robert Dunham for a con­ver­sa­tion about trib­al sov­er­eign­ty, the death penal­ty, and the his­toric U.S. Supreme Court rul­ing in McGirt v.

Death Row

Conditions on Death Row

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Jul 20, 2020

New Podcast: ACLU National Prison Project Director David Fathi Discusses Death-Row Conditions, the Move Away from Solitary Confinement, and COVID-19 in U.S. Prisons

In the lat­est episode of Discussions With DPIC, David Fathi, the direc­tor of the ACLU’s National Prison Project, speaks with DPIC’s Managing Director Anne Holsinger about death-row con­di­tions across the coun­try. Fathi speaks about the ​“shat­ter­ing” effects of long-term death-row soli­tary con­fine­ment, the move­ment away from auto­mat­ic soli­tary con­fine­ment for death row pris­on­ers, and the impact of COVID-19 in con­gre­gate-liv­ing cir­cum­stances, such as…

Policy Issues

Race

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Jun 30, 2020

New Podcast: Henderson Hill and North Carolina’s Historic Racial Justice Act Rulings

In the June 2020 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Henderson Hill (pic­tured), Senior Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union Capital Punishment Project, speaks with Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham about North Carolina​’s Racial Justice Act. Hill, who has spent decades as a pub­lic defend­er, cap­i­tal defense attor­ney, and civ­il rights advo­cate, is cur­rent­ly rep­re­sent­ing North Carolina death-row pris­on­ers in the…

Policy Issues

Representation

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Clemency

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Upcoming Executions

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May 11, 2020

New Podcast: Capital Defense Lawyer Kelley Henry on Death Penalty Litigation During a Pandemic

In the May 2020 edi­tion of Discussions with DPIC, vet­er­an cap­i­tal defense lawyer Kelley Henry (pic­tured), who is rep­re­sent­ing sev­er­al Tennessee death-row pris­on­ers fac­ing exe­cu­tion dates in 2020, speaks with DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham about the unprece­dent­ed chal­lenges of lit­i­gat­ing death-penal­ty cas­es dur­ing the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic. Henry, a Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender in Nashville, pro­vides an inside view of how the…

Facts & Research

New Voices

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Mar 04, 2020

New Discussions With DPIC Podcast: Hannah Cox on Conservative Opposition to the Death Penalty

In the March 2020 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Hannah Cox (pic­tured), National Manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (CCATDP) speaks with Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham about the con­tin­u­ing move­ment by social and polit­i­cal con­ser­v­a­tives away from cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, how the death penal­ty is out of step with core con­ser­v­a­tive val­ues, and the key role that con­ser­v­a­tive leg­is­la­tors are play­ing in abo­li­tion efforts across the…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Nov 12, 2019

New Podcast: ​“Unrequited Innocence” with Rob Warden and John Seasly

At least 166 wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed death-row pris­on­ers have been exon­er­at­ed since the death penal­ty was rein­sti­tut­ed in the United States in 1973. That num­ber, how­ev­er, may only scratch the sur­face in assess­ing the degree to which inno­cent men and women are being sent to U.S. death…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Oct 10, 2019

New Podcast: Texas Lawyer James Rytting on Junk Science and the Execution of Larry Swearingen

In the lat­est episode of Discussions with DPIC, Texas cap­i­tal defense lawyer James Rytting (pic­tured) dis­cuss­es the case of his client, Larry Swearingen, and the junk sci­ence that led to the exe­cu­tion of a man legit­i­mate sci­ence strong­ly sug­gests was inno­cent. Rytting describes the false foren­sic analy­sis pre­sent­ed under the guise of sci­ence in Swearingen’s case, the appel­late process that makes it ​“almost impos­si­ble” to obtain…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Aug 02, 2018

New Podcast: Authors of Tennessee Death-Penalty Study Discuss Arbitrariness

The lat­est edi­tion of Discussions with DPIC fea­tures H.E. Miller, Jr. and Bradley MacLean, co-authors of a recent study on the appli­ca­tion of Tennessee’s death penal­ty. Miller and MacLean describe the find­ings from their arti­cle, Tennessee’s Death Penalty Lottery, in which they exam­ined the fac­tors that influ­ence death-penal­ty deci­sions in the…

Policy Issues

Deterrence

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Murder Rates

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Sep 12, 2017

NEW PODCAST: DPIC Study Finds No Evidence that Death Penalty Deters Murder or Protects Police

A Death Penalty Information Center analy­sis of U.S. mur­der data from 1987 through 2015 has found no evi­dence that the death penal­ty deters mur­der or pro­tects police. Instead, the evi­dence shows that mur­der rates, includ­ing mur­ders of police offi­cers, are con­sis­tent­ly high­er in death-penal­ty states than in states that have abol­ished the death penal­ty. And far from expe­ri­enc­ing increas­es in mur­der rates or open sea­son on law enforce­ment, the data show that states that have abol­ished the death…

Death Row

Women

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Mar 27, 2017

New Podcast: Women and the Death Penalty, With Expert Guest Mary Atwell

“We live in a gen­dered soci­ety,” says Dr. Mary Atwell (pic­tured), one of the nation’s fore­most experts on women and cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, and the men and women who go to death row are dif­fer­ent. In the lat­est pod­cast episode of ​“Discussions with DPIC,” com­mem­o­rat­ing Women’s History Month, Dr. Atwell says why that is…