Bill Moyers: The Death Penalty’s Fatal Flaws

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http://vimeo.com/62923487


Martin Clancy and Tim O’Brien on the Death Penalty’s Fatal Flaws
March 29, 2013


Right now, there are more than 3,100 inmates on death row, and more than 60% are members of racial or ethnic minorities. Over time, Supreme Court Justices have fine-tuned the circumstances under which the death penalty may still apply, but no set of laws or jurisprudence can undo wrongful executions — or, it seems, completely prevent them. According to journalists Martin Clancy and Tim O’Brien, authors of Murder at the Supreme Court, in recent years at least 18 inmates were released from death row because DNA evidence proved their innocence. These cases are among more than 140 death penalty exonerations over the last three decades.

Clancy and O’Brien join Bill to explore these fatal flaws in our criminal justice system, and to share the human stories behind the evolution of capital punishment in America.

“If you can afford a decent defense, you probably will not die in an execution chamber,” Clancy tells Bill. “As you look back you discover that the smartest men in America, the most decent people in this country for 200 years in our legislatures, in the Congress, in our courts both lower courts and the Supreme Court, have tried to figure out a fair and equitable way to administer capital punishment. And as far as I’m concerned they’ve failed.”

O’Brien points out, “if the victim is white and the perpetrator is black, you’re ten or 11 times more likely to get a death sentence.” ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://billmoyers.com/segment/martin-clancy-and-tim-o%E2%80%99brien-on-the-death-penaltys-fatal-flaws/