For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium. Albert Camus
Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders. Albert Camus, French philosopher
My objection to the death penalty is based on the idea that this is a democracy, and in a democracy the government is me, and if the government kills somebody then I’m killing somebody. Steve Earle
I’m not in favor of the death penalty. But I’m in favor of locking these people away in maximum security units where they can never get out. They can never escape. They can never be paroled. Lock the bad ones away. But you gotta rethink everybody else. John Grisham
There’s a War Crimes Act in the United States passed by a Republican Congress in 1996, which says that grave breaches of the Geneva Convention are subject to the death penalty. And that doesn't mean the soldier that committed them – that means the commanders. Noam Chomsky
Imposition of the death penalty is arbitrary and capricious. Decision of who will live and who will die for his crime turns less on the nature of the offense and the incorrigibility of the offender and more on inappropriate and indefensible considerations: the political and personal inclinations of prosecutors; the defendant’s wealth, race and intellect; the race and economic status of the victim; the quality of the defendant’s counsel; and the resources allocated to defense lawyers. Gerald Heaney, former appellate judge
Capital punishment kills immediately, whereas lifetime imprisonment does so slowly. Which executioner is more humane? The one who kills you in a few minutes, or the one who wrests your life from you in the course of many years? Anton Chekhov
Former Conservative MP Michael Portillo is on a mission to investigate the science of killing. He wants to find a method that is unquestionably humane. And to do so he will delve into one of the darkest areas of science – his aim is to try and understand what it feels like to die by execution. Horizon: How to Kill a Human Being, BBC 2008
Fifty-five countries in the world use execution as the ultimate punishment. But the killing of prisoners has long been the issue of controversy. ibid.
The Death Penalty exists in 33 states of the United States of America ... I respectfully disagree. Werner Herzog on Death Row, Discovery 2014
... May I say how delighted I was to read in yesterday’s Evening Standard that our Leader [Mrs Thatcher] doesn’t ‘wish to see the death penalty used a very great deal’. This dispels the popular idea that she intends to be personally present at all hangings. This seems to be the right attitude. She should only attend the more important ones ... Henry Root, The Henry Root Letters, to Richard Ryder at Conservative Central Office 26th April 1979
It is extremely unlikely, therefore, that the death penalty, as currently practiced in the United States, exerts any real influence on crime rates. Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner, Freakonomics
I feel morally and intellectually obliged simply to concede that the death experiment has failed. Henry A Blackman, Supreme Court justice
After more than two decades on Death Row convicted murderer Nick Tarris made a final petition to the Pennsylvania Courts. He requested that all appeals cease and his sentence of death be carried out. Storyville: A Death Row Tale: The Fear of 13, BBC 2016
‘You can still smell the aftershave on the witnesses.’ ibid.
This film is about the death penalty in the state of Mississippi and the effect it has on the staff and inmates as time runs out for one twenty-six-year-old man: Edward Earl Johnson. Johnson has been appealing against his sentence for eight years in the United States’ courts. He was convicted in 1979 of killing a Mississippi town marshal and the attempted rape of a 60-year-old woman. He has spent the last eight years on this death row and has always professed his innocence. Fourteen Days in May, BBC 1987
At the scene of the crime where Johnson allegedly robbed a 60-year-old woman and killed a local town marshal an old Buick car was seen. Because Johnson owned a Buick he was arrested with others and put in front of an identity parade. The woman who was robbed and nearly raped had known Edward Johnson for most of his life. ibid.
They wrote out a confession and asked Johnson to sign it. ibid.
Many states in America use the death penalty to punish the worst crimes. On average 45 prisoners are executed each year. Over half of those on Death Row were arrested for murder in their teens or twenties. For two of the youngest men on Death Row in Texas execution day has arrived. Life and Death Row s1e1: Execution, BBC 2014
‘In 2002 Richard Cobb and Beunka Adams kidnapped three people from a convenience store … one of their victims wound up dead. Adams was executed in April last year; now Richard Cobb faces death by lethal injection.’ ibid. news report
‘Houston cop killer Anthony Haynes will be executed by lethal injection.’ ibid. news report
‘We received nothing from the US Supreme Court that Anthony Haynes receive a stay of execution.’ ibid. legal statement
‘The execution is now in progress; he is sitting there with clenched fists; he’s slowly relaxing at this time.’ Life and Death Row s1e2: Judgment, commentary
In 2009 22-year-old Guy Heinze was charged with the murders of 8 members of his own family. He’s now on trial for his life in the state of Georgia. ibid.
‘Police say each of them was beaten with a blunt object.’ ibid. news report
‘Suspect says he returned to mobile home and found victims already dead.’ ibid.
‘When we get to the crime scene he’s wearing those shorts; underneath, he was wearing silver and black gym shorts – what was found was the blood of three different people from that house.’ ibid. prosecutor
For some prisoners there is one last hope: a team of law students fighting to save their lives. Life and Death Row s1e3: Crisis Stage
Two crisis appeals: gang member and drive-by killer Robert Garza and prison guard murderer Robert Pruett. ibid.
‘He was stabbed to death and a make-shift knife was found.’ ibid. news
A few hours before his murder Daniel Nagle had written a disciplinary report on Robert Pruett for breaking prison rules. ibid.
And next to Daniel Nagle’s body they found the ripped pieces of Robert Pruett’s report. ibid.
Ray Yarborough died from multiple stab wounds … Robert had turned 16 by the time the case came to trial; he was sentenced as an adult and given ninety-nine years. ibid.
Corpus Christi 10th March 2009: ‘Lieutenant Stuart Alexander died an immediate death: he was struck and killed by a suspect fleeing in an SUV.’ Life and Death Row s2e1: Execution, news, BBC 2016
I, death row inmate, Stacey Johnson, at the present moment am being housed at the Cummins Unit feet away from the death chamber. The State of Arkansas is going to commit mass murder to kill eight men in ten days because their drug is gonna run out. So I ask you: who’s the murderer? The unprecedented number of executions and divided the state. Now the eight inmates are fighting for their lives. Life and Death Row: The Mass Execution I, BBC 2018
Each inmate is entitled to plead to the governor to spare their life at a hearing with the parole board. ibid.
‘The death penalty is political. I think the Governor is doing these executions in order to make a name for himself.’ Life and Death Row: The Mass Execution II, Johnson
‘The local politicians tried to execute me. Even when DNA testing came out that excluded me and the other two men that they had convicted from the scene of the crime they still kept trying to kill me.’ ibid. Damien Echols
The governor of Arkansas has scheduled 8 men to die within 10 days of each other. The schedule is to beat the expiration date of a lethal injection drug called Midazolam. Midazolam has been blamed for a number of executions that have gone wrong. Life and Death Row: The Mass Execution III, captions
Next in line to die are Jack Jones and Marcel Williams. (Capital Punishment & Execution & Death Sentence) ibid.
The last two men scheduled to die are Jason McGehee and Kenneth Williams. Life and Death Row: The Mass Execution IV
In 2004 former US marine John Henry Ramirez stabbed and killed Pablo Castro. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. After 8 years on Texas death row John will be executed in 7 days. John is making a final appeal to halt his execution. Life and Death Row: In Cold Blood
‘It was just a bad day and a bunch of wrong choices on my part.’ ibid. Ramirez