Deadly Justice
A Statistical Portrait of the Death Penalty
Frank R. Baumgartner, Marty Davidson, Kaneesha R. Johnson, Arvind Krishnamurthy, and Colin P. Wilson
Oxford University Press, 2018
Useful Links
Links to web sites with data we used throughout the book:
Death Penalty Information Center
Clark County Prosecutor Execution database
National Registry of Exonerations
Other sites with significant resources:
American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project
Southern Center for Human Rights
Center on Wrongful Convictions (Northwestern University Law School)
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Center for Church and Prison, Inc.
Pro Death Penalty Resources:
Pro-Death Penalty.com: http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/
Heritage Foundation testimony to the US Congress by David Muhlhausen, June 27, 2007: http://www.heritage.org/testimony/the-death-penalty-deters-crime-and-saves-lives
1000+ Death Penalty Links, from the Clark County (Indiana) Prosecutor: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplinks.htm
Research page of Prof. Paul Cassell, University of Utah School of Law:
https://faculty.utah.edu/u0031056-PAUL_G._CASSELL/research/index.hml
Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, whose legal director, Kent Scheidegger, is a prominent death penalty analyst and supporter
https://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/deathpenalty.html
Multimedia Links:
Capital Punishment in Context: Multimedia resource on capital punishment ranging from books to movies: http://www.capitalpunishmentincontext.org/resources/media
Death Penalty Information Center Multimedia Archive 1995-2004: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/multimedia-archive-1995-2004
Faces of Death Row: http://apps.texastribune.org/death-row/
The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty media list: http://tcadp.org/get-informed/films-books-theatre/
Book and Reading Lists:
Southern Center for Human Rights: Comprehensive list of death penalty books, reports and articles, 2013: https://www.schr.org/action/resources/books
Good Reads: Fiction and non-fiction literature on the death penalty – 2015: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/death-penalty
Death Penalty Information Center: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/books-death-penalty
Questia: List of books and articles about capital punishment: https://www.questia.com/library/controversial-topics/capital-punishment
The Boston Globe: Article discussing seven books on the death penalty and their contributions to the subject: https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2014/12/06/seven-books-death-penalty/aWdVCGbc1TiWXcGYoQQGBL/story.html
Movie Lists:
The American Civil Liberties Union death penalty film list: https://www.aclu-de.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2.-Films-on-the-Death-Penalty.pdf
T.V. Shows:
Life and Death Row (2014-). In a documentary series fashion this show offers insight on death row through young people who have come into contact with the system. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/life-and-death-row/
“The Divide” (2014) – Innocence Initiative worker Christine Rosa believes a construction worker was wrongly convicted of murdered family 12 years ago. Rosa tries to prove his innocence and stop his impending execution. Highlights racial tensions and prosecutorial misconduct. The show was in part inspired by Barry Schenck from the Innocence Project.
http://www.wetv.com/shows/the-divide
On Death Row (2012). Each of the four episodes in this series focuses on a different murder case. Those convicted were all on death row at the time of filming. http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/death-row
Rectify (2013-) After 19 years on death row, Daniel Holden returns home after he was exonerated for the murder of his girlfriend. The show follows Holden readjusting to life after his release. http://www.sundance.tv/series/rectify
Women on Death Row. Women tell the stories of what drove them to commit crimes that landed them in death row and the struggles they faced as women on death row. Available on Hulu
Documentaries
When they See Us. A multi-part Netflix series about the "Central Park 5," teenagers from Harlem wrongfully convicted of a brutal attack on the "Central Park jogger" in the 1990s. They were eventually exonerated after the true perpetrator confessed to the crime. The original crime was very high profile, and real estate mogul Donald Trump purchased a full page ad in variuos New York newspapers calling for a return of the death penalty. Directed by Eva DuVernay. https://www.netflix.com/title/80200549?source=35
In the Name of the Father, a 1993 film about the "Guildford Four", four Irish individuals convicted in Britain for a 1974 pub bombing actually conducted by the IRA. When the true perpetrators confessed to the crime, the UK goverment kept them in prison; they were released after their attorney discovered exulpatory evidence marked "Not to be shown to the defense." https://www.amazon.com/Name-Father-Daniel-Day-Lewis/dp/0783227906
After Innocence—2005; Stories of exonerated inmates and the struggles they face following their exonnerations; www.afterinnocence.com
At The Death House Door – 2008; An investigation into the execution of Carlos DeLuna which shows he may have been innocent; http://www.dvd.netflix.com
Death Row: The Final 24 Hours – last minute appeals, botched executions, accounts of what happens leading up to the final hours of an execution; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkbI4EcOs9U
Death Row Stories – 2014 and beyond; TV series narrated by Susan Sarandon, each featuring a death row conviction that may have been in error; http://www.cnn.com/shows/death-row-stories
Into the Abyss – 2011; Texas death row inmates are interviewed, their victim’s families, and member of the criminal justice system; http://www.netflix.com
Inside Death Row with Trevor McDonald (2013) – McDonald visits Indiana State Maximum Security Prison’s death row, including Benjamin Ritchie and John Stephenson; http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/explorer/episodes/inside-death-row/
Life and Death Row – 2014; Three episodes that investigate various aspects of life on death row, from execution to legal aspects; http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/life-and-death-row/
Life and Death Row: Love Triangle – BBC3; http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03hnkx5
Love Lived on Death Row—2007; Tells the story of a family whose father killed their mother. The children decide to visit their father on death row in the time leading up to his execution; http://www.lovelivedondeathrow.com/
Race to Execution—2006; Follows the stories of two death row inmates and the relationship of race in America’s justice system; www.racetoexecution.com
Redemption: The Stan “Tookie” Williams Story—2004; The story of Stan “Tookie” Williams creating the L.A Gang the “Crips”, ending up in prison, and then writing children’s books on antiviolence. His story ends via lethal injection; Available on Amazon.com
The Execution – 1999; A documentary that covers Clifford Boggess, a death row inmate who was executed by lethal injection in 1998; http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/execution/etc/foreducators.html
The Execution of Wanda Jean—2004; Evaluates the roles of poverty, race, and mental illness in the criminal justice system through death row inmate Wanda Jean; Available on Netflix or at Amazon.com
Too Flawed to Fix—2002; Examines 13 cases of inmates who were wrongfully convicted in Illinois in an attempt to expose the flaws of our criminal justice system; Video available for order via: tooflawedtofix@hotmail.com
The Thin Blue Line—1988; Reconstructs the 1976 murder of a Dallas policeman and the trial the man convicted who claims to be innocent; Available at Amazon.com
The Trials of Daryl Hunt—2006; The story of a wrongfully convicted man in North Carolina; Available at http://www.breakthrufilms.org/ or on Netflix.
Werner Herzog’s “On Death Row” (2012) – Interviews with Texas death row inmates, featuring James Barnes, Linda Carty, the “Texas Seven,” and Hank Skinner; http://www.channel4.com/programmes/death-row
Fourteen Days in May, relflecting on conditions in Parchman prison in Mississippi. Along with Angola prison in Louisiana, Parchman is a living plantation, with inmates working under the supervision of armed guards on horseback in cotton fields.
In the Land of the Free—2010. The story of the Angola Three, Albert Woodfox, Herman Wallace, and Robert King, inmates at Louisiana's Angola prison who were targeted for the conviction of a white guard in the 1970s because of their membership in the Black Panther Party. They went on to serve over 30 years each in solitary confinement. Wallace and Woodfox were eventually released, and Woodfox recently published a memoir, Solitary, (Grove Press, 2019). (The film is also available with the title of "Cruel and Unusual", and both are available on Amazon.)
Podcasts:
Death Penalty Information Center on the Issues Podcast Series (American Bar Association- Death Penalty Representation Project) http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/podcasts (also found on iTunes)
The Stages of a Death Penalty Case (American Bar Association- Death Penalty Representation Project) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/stages-death-penalty-case/id575624107?i=1000136022743&mt=2
The Challenges of Capital Cases in Texas and Florida (American Bar Association- Death Penalty Representation Project) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/challenges-capital-cases-in/id575624107?i=1000136022742&mt=2
The Relationship with My Client, (Former) Death Row Prisoner Damon Thibodeaux (American Bar Association- Death Penalty Representation Project) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/relationship-my-client-former/id575624107?i=1000136109932&mt=2
How My Expectations About Representing a Death Row Prisoner Compared with Reality (American Bar Association- Death Penalty Representation Project) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-my-expectations-about/id575624107?i=1000136109933&mt=2
The Why Factor: The Death Penalty (BBC World Service) https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/death-penalty/id561904920?i=1000338265970&mt=2
Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates: Should We Abolish the Death Penalty? https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/should-we-abolish-death-penalty/id216713308?i=1000350757761&mt=2
Slate’s Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick: Mental Illness and the Death Penalty
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mental-illness-death-penalty/id928790786?i=1000325878626&mt=2
Slate’s Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick: The Machinery of Death
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-machinery-of-death/id928790786?i=1000354576985&mt=2
Lawyer 2 Lawyer: Revisiting the Death Penalty Debate
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/revisiting-death-penalty-debate/id80013534?i=1000357747437&mt=2
Trial Lawyer Confidential: The Death Penalty
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tlc-011-the-death-penalty/id601686658?i=1000160014841&mt=2
(Note: this list will never be complete but if important resources are missing please email Frank Baumgartner at Frankb@unc.edu)
(This page was last updated June 22, 2019.)