The botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee has once again placed the death penalty at the center of public debate. This week, we talk to University of Richmond Law Professor Corinna Barrett Lain — one of the nation’s leading death penalty scholars — about the fallacies and misconceptions surrounding the allegedly “humane” use of lethal injection. We also look at why the American South is the capital of capital punishment for the developed world. Plus: Two fascinating new exhibits at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art.
Show Notes:
Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection Corinna Barrett Lain
“Christa Pike, Child Rape Victim, Faces Execution for Crime She Committed as a Teenager” Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide
“Mercy for Christa” Petition
“Witness to a Botched Execution” John North, WBIR-TV
“Tennessee’s outgoing prison chief had a history of execution missteps before Christa Pike, officials say” CNN
“Executions by Region and State Since 1976” Death Penalty Information Center
“What to Know: Deterrence and the Death Penalty” Death Penalty Information Center
“Why does the South execute more people?” Facing South
“‘Bye bitch’ and other Bible Belt reactions to execution news” Brad Bull, Baptist News Global
“Lynching Postcards 1908” Truth in Photography
LSU Museum of Art