Video Information
On January 21, 2021, LawShelf presented a detailed overview of the operation of capital punishment in the United States.
On December 1, 2020, Democracy Now gave an overview of five of the convicted prisoners to be executed by the Trump administration.
On December 12, 2020, ITV reported on the execution of Brandon Bernard.
On May 10, 2020, Real Stories presented a documentary of the death penalty in the United States, including the perspective of a former executioner.
On February 1, 2019, the Jewish Learning Institute published two opposing views on the death penalty - one presented by Professor Robert Blecker and the other by Professor Stephen Greenwald.
On August 7, 2017, Dennis Prager presented a detailed argument in support of capital punishment.
On August 25, 2016, DeathPenaltyFail televised a reconstruction of the administration of a lethal injection.
Warning: this re-enactment contains distressing material.
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Should the United States abolish the death penalty?
- Web links, documents and video clips
The Death Penalty Information Center is one of the primary sources available on the operation of capital punishment in the United States.
Its homepage can be accessed at 
On January 17, 2021, BBC News published a report tiled, 'Dustin Higgs: Final execution of Trump presidency is carried out'
The article refers to the last federal execution to occur during Donald Trump's presidency and gives some background on the issue.
The full text can be accessed at
On January 16, 2021, CNN Politics published a report titled 'Supreme Court's liberal justices lash out at unprecedented 'rush' of executions as Trump leaves office'. It deals with the opposition of liberal judges on the United States Supreme Court to the execution of federal thirteen prisons over six months, including three immediately before President Trump left office.
The full text can be accessed at
On December 22, 2020, the New York Magazine supplement, Intelligencer, published an analysis titled 'Will Biden Use His Powers to Crush the Death Penalty?' which examines the evolution of president-elect Joe Biden's views on the death penalty.
The full text can be accessed at
On December 19, 2020, The Conversation published a comment and analysis titled 'When families of murder victims speak at death penalty trials, their anguish may make sentencing less fair' The article is written by Austin Sarat, Associate Provost and Associate Dean of the Faculty and Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College.
Sarat argues that victim testimony introduces aggravating factors of which the convicted criminal will have been unaware at the time the crime was committed.
The full text can be accessed at
On December 17, 2020, CNN Politics published an analysis and commentary on the United States' federal use of the death penalty in the five months to December 2020. The piece is titled 'The US government has executed 10 people this year - the most since 1896'
On August 27, 2020, The Navajo Times published a report titled 'Father of 9-year-old: "I have waited 19 years to get justice for my daughter"'. The report quoted the views of the father of a nine-year-old child whose convicted murderer was one of those whose execution was approved by the Trump administration.
On December 12, 2020, USA Today published an opinion piece by Jennifer Lackey titled 'My college student's transformation provides best argument for abolishing death penalty'
The piece supplies a detailed personal example as an argument against capital punishment.
The full text can be accessed at
The American Civil Liberties Union opposes the death penalty. Its detailed case opposing capital punishment can be accessed at
The United Nations is opposed to the death penalty. Its arguments against the punishment can be accessed at
On November 30, 2020, Slate published a comment by Austin Sarat titled 'Trump's Approval of Hanging and Firing Squads Is a National Embarrassment'
The article refers to the Trump administration's approval of a variety of methods of capital punishment in the event that lethal injections cannot be proceeded with.
The full text of the article can be accessed at
On October 2, 2020, The American Jesuit Review published an article detailing the ruling of Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, who has determined against the death penalty in his encyclical titled 'Fratelli Tutti'.
The full text can be accessed at
On July 27, 2020, Verdict (Legal analysis and commentary from Justia) published an analysis by Sherry F Colb, C.S. Wong Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. The analysis is titled 'Narrow Debate about the Death Penalty'. It critically examines several of the rationales offered for capital punishment.
The full text can be accessed at
On March 11, 2020, the American Bar Association published a report titled 'Several States Consider Repealing or Reforming Death Penalty Laws' which detailed the position of some American states considering altering their position on the death penalty.
The full text can be accessed at
In 2007, The Quarterly Journal of Ideology published a paper titled 'A Lockean Defense of the Death Penalty: Some Timely Observations' which examined some of the philosophical justifications offered for the death penalty.
The full text can be accessed at
On September 20, 2002, The Orlando Sentinel published a report titled 'Judge Tells Killer he "Forfeited" Right to Life' in which a judge is quoted justifying the basis on which he had passed a capital sentence.
The full text of the article can be accessed at
On March 30, 2001, National Review published an opinion piece titled 'More Executions, Less Escapes' which offered a defence of capital punishment as a means of contributing to community safety.
The full text can be accessed at
In 1986, The Harvard Law Review Association, published a briefing paper by John M. Olin Professor of Jurisprudence and Public Policy, Fordham University. The paper is titled 'The Ultimate Punishment: A Defense'. Professor Olin gives a detailed defence of the death penalty.
The full text can be accessed at
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