The Death Penalty

Civics 101

NHPR

History, Government, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2018

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today's episode we're looking into a practice that sets the U.S. aside from all other Western countries: Capital Punishment. So, is the death penalty a part of the constitution? How has the Supreme Court ruled on the issue? And ultimately, what can we learn about ourselves from the practice? Our guest today is Carol Steiker, Harvard Law Professor and author of Courting Death: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro. Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
0:04.6	You're listening to Civics 101, I'm Nick Capady-Jay.
0:07.4	And I'm Hannah McCarthy.
0:08.4	And today we're talking about the death penalty.
0:10.4	Otherwise known as capital punishment.
0:12.6	Now to more breaking news from Utah, where convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner was shot
0:18.4	to death by a firing squad overnight.
0:20.4	I want to turn to one of this week's biggest stories in Oklahoma, or the execution of Clayton
0:25.5	Lockett went horribly wrong.
0:27.2	I've heard that we are the only western nation that still has the death penalty.
0:32.4	I want to know if that's true.
0:35.0	And if it is, why?
0:36.6	Yeah, and I want to know how policy towards the death penalty has changed as we've evolved
0:41.0	as a nation.
0:42.0	For this crime, the court sentences you to be put to death in the manner prescribed by
0:47.0	law.
0:48.0	Hannah, this is an issue that doesn't seem just relegated to politics.
0:50.9	It could also extend to a broader philosophical question.
0:55.0	And we kill other people because they've done the same.
0:58.4	So we wanted to talk to someone who really knew about capital punishment.
1:02.0	My name is Carol Steiger.
1:03.7	I am the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where I also am a faculty
	...

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