The Importance of Capital Punishment in the South

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In 1955, Emmett Till was visiting family in Mississippi when a white woman accused him of whistling at her and making sexual advances. A few nights later, the woman's husband and his half-brother kidnapped, tortured, and shot 14-year-oldEmma Till. They tied a 75-pound industrial fan around his neck and through his body into a river. Both men were acquitted by an all-white jury.

Not long into his job as prison superintendent, Frank Thompson was asked to write the manual on lethal injection for the state of Oregon. Capital punishment had not been implemented in more than 30 years, and no one knew how to do it. Frank had to travel around the country learning how other states do it, and he asked his staff to practice. They simulated every step, including seating witnesses in the gallery, interacting with the press, and strapping each other to the gurney.

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