Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished?
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What is the historical background of the death penalty in the United States?
In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty as practiced was arbitrary, cruel, and unusual, and therefore unconstitutional. For four years, it was outlawed, until another Supreme Court case issued guidelines for capital punishment, effectively lifting the moratorium and legalizing the death penalty once again. That second case was 50 years ago this year. In that half-century, 9,000 death row sentences have been passed down, sixteen hundred and sixty-one people have been executed in that time. This is open to debate. I'm John Donbat, and I'm telling you all this because in light of the anniversary, we're bringing you our debate from twenty fifteen on whether it is time to abolish the death penalty.
Twenty-three states plus DC have done away with it, four more have executions paused, but that leaves another twenty-three states that retain the power to kill. These days the American people are pretty much evenly split on whether to abolish the death penalty. Ten years ago, six in ten Americans were still in favor. Hello, I'm John Don Van, and we have four superbly qualified debaters on stage who will be arguing two against two, for and against this motion, abolish the death penalty. As always, our debate will go in three rounds, and then our live audience here in New York City votes to pick the winner, and only one side wins. The motion again, abolish the death penalty. Let's meet the team arguing for the motion.
The team that wants to abolish, please welcome. Diane Rust Tierney. Diane, you are the executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. You have spent many years uh fighting the death penalty, uh back when you were working for the LCLU back to the nineties. And as we pointed out, a majority of Americans still do support the death penalty, but the trend is definitely downward. So what has changed over time?
Well, I'd like to think I've gotten better at my job. And have uh done a better job of getting the public to focus on the right questions.
And we'll be going to some of those questions tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome again Diane Ross Tierney. And
Diane, tell us who your partner is. My debate partner is the wonderful and absolutely brilliant Barry Scheck. Ladies
and gentlemen, Barry Scheck. Uh Barry, you are a professor at the Cardozo School of Law, co-director of the Innocence Project, well known to television viewers by playing yourself on the good wife. Um you f you founded uh the Innocence Project back in nineteen ninety two. How many post conviction DNA uh exonerations have there been since the project began?
There are 362 post-conviction DNA exonerations, 19 of people off death row, uh, many, many people that were convicted of murder in non-capital
eligible states. All right, and I'm assuming we're going to be hearing more about that in your argument. Let's again welcome the team arguing for the motion, abolish the death penalty. And we have two debaters arguing against the motion. Again, to be clear, they are against abolishing the death penalty. So you figured out the double negative there, it's pretty clear. First, let's please welcome Robert Becquer. Robert, uh you're a professor at New York Law School. You spent 12 years talking to prisoners inside Lorton Central Prison, another decade visiting death row prisoners. You put all of this together in a book called The Death of Punishment. Uh and in it, you show that although you are a leading advocate of the death penalty, you have a surprising amount of empathy for some of the prisoners you met.
I'm wondering, does that experience an
Well, um, first of all I spend a lot more time watching and listening than talking, but uh Darrell Holton who murdered his four children taught me a lot and made me laugh and I do confess sometimes to missing him. But for the worst of the worst of the worst, not at all. All right. And who is your partner? My partner is the incredibly erudite and always sober Ken Scheidiger.
Please welcome Ken Scheidiger. Ken, since 1986, you've been legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the historical background of the death penalty in the United States?
0:02–6:58
2
Who are the debaters and what positions do they represent on abolishing the death penalty?
6:58–22:42
3
What arguments does the pro‑death‑penalty side present in their opening statements?
22:42–38:02
4
What arguments does the anti‑death‑penalty side present in their opening statements?
38:02–50:01