Power Corrupts An Eye for an Eye?
Jun 27, 2019
Nick Yarris, an exonerated death row inmate and author, shares his harrowing journey of wrongful conviction and life on death row. Emily Bazelon, a criminal justice reform advocate, discusses systemic issues in capital punishment, including the biases affecting sentencing. Jeffrey Howard explores philosophical questions surrounding justice and the morality of execution. The trio debates whether the death penalty can ever be justified in a just society, revealing unsettling truths about race, wrongful convictions, and the complexities of justice.
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Lie That Sent A Man To Death Row
- Nick Yarris fabricated a tip to get leniency and accidentally made himself the prime suspect in Linda Mae Craig's murder.
- His lie, conviction, and death sentence sent him to death row for 22 years.
Death Penalty Is Geographically Concentrated
- Execution counts have fallen sharply since the 1990s and are now concentrated in a few states and counties.
- Many counties produce most death sentences due to local prosecutorial choices rather than crime rates.
Three Philosophical Grounds For Punishment
- Philosophical justifications split into retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation frameworks.
- Each framework implies different conclusions about whether capital punishment is morally permissible.
