Today we take a look at the US death penalty from all angles. Cultural norms? We’re an outlier. Protecting the innocent? We kill innocent people. Following the letter of the law? We’re absolutely breaking the 8th amendment to the constitution. Fiscal responsibility? Death penalty costs about 3 times more than life imprisonment. And don’t forget about the racially biased implementation and the structurally biased trail system of death penalty cases.
Show Notes
Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill
00:00:30 Ch. 2: Act 1: Who are the barbarians? - Le Show (@theharryshearer) - Air Date: 2-1-15
Ch. 3: Song 1: Of Mice and Men - End Credits
00:03:26 Ch. 4: Act 2: Shocker!: Scalia's Poster Man for Death Penalty Turns Out to Be Innocent - @majorityfm - Air Date: 09-04-14
Ch. 5: Song 2: Death Penalty - Eight Dayz
00:10:50 Ch. 6: Act 3: Rick Perry Executed Innocent Dad After Prosecutor Hides Exculpatory Evidence - @davidpakmanshow - Air Date: 03-24-15
Ch. 7: Song 3: Death Penalty - Surrogate
00:14:42 Ch. 8: Act 4: The Penalty - How much are executions costing you? - @One_For_Ten Films - Air Date: 11-11-14
Ch. 9: Song 4: The Secret Agent: The Secret Agent Ending - Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico & Elias Arizcuren
00:17:11 Ch. 10: Act 5: Death by firing squad - @allinwithchris Hayes - Air Date: 3-11-15
Ch. 11: Song 5: Guillotine - Wildlife
00:22:36 Ch. 12: Act 6: Is Our Execution Method Cruel and Unusual? - @testtube - Air Date: 6-18-14
Ch. 13: Song 6: La nuit - David Ari Leon
00:25:48 Ch. 14: Act 7: Exoquill: End of life cocktailing never looked so clear - Le Show (@theharryshearer) - Air Date: 3-8-15
Ch. 15: Song 7: My Girl - The Temptations
00:29:38 Ch. 16: Act 8: Oklahoma takes a guess, approves nitrogen gas for killing prisoners - Rachel @maddow - Air Date 4-21-15
Ch. 17: Song 8: First Patient - Philip Glass
00:38:34 Ch. 18: Act 9: Death Penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Anti-Execution State Brings Complications, Not Closure - @democracynow - Air Date: 5-18-15
Ch. 19: Song 9: 1901 - Phoenix
00:48:29 Ch. 20: Act 10: #HaltAllExecutions with @ncadp & @90millionstrong — Best of the Left Activism
Ch. 21: Song 10: Activism - Shihan
00:51:05 Ch. 22: Act 11: George Stinney, 14, Executed In Vile Act Of Injustice, Exonerated 70s Years Late - @theyoungturks - Air Date: 12-19-14
Voicemails
00:58:31 Ch. 23: And they shot MLK too - Patrick from Dallas
01:00:46 Ch. 24: 2nd wave feminism and the definition of a woman - Mckenzie from Oakland, CA
01:03:31 Ch. 25: We need to bring back the parts of school that have been cut - Adam from Chicago
Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics
01:05:08 Ch. 26: Final comments on the Imagined Order of human rights that frames our perspective on the death penalty
Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone
Activism: #HaltAllExecutions with @ncadp & @90millionstrong
Take Action:
SIGN: ”Join the 90 Million Strong: Call for Halt to All Executions” from 90 Million Strong, a project of The National Coalition To End the Death Penalty
Find more resources on pending executions and educational content: 90MillionStrong.org
Additional Activism/Resources:
JUNE 6: DC Standing for Peace and Justice w/Mothers in Charge
Sources/further reading:
States with and without the Death Penalty via DeathPenaltyInfo.org
“Lethal Entanglements” via The New Republic
“Death penalty foes see Nebraska vote as momentum-builder”
"Boston Bomber’s Execution To Be Delayed 18 Years?” via The Inquisitor
"Few favor death for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, poll finds: Less than 20% of Mass. residents support execution” via The Boston Globe
"Boston Marathon bomber unlikely to be executed – even if jury votes for death” via The Guardian
"European boycott of death penalty drugs lowers rate of US executions” via The Guardian
Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Thanks for listening!
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