Prison and the death penalty

Evolving Prisons

Paul Bridges is a volunteer at Amnesty International UK and is Chair of the Anti-Death Penalty Project. The purpose of the project is to raise awareness about the death penalty with Amnesty members, the public and politicians. In this episode, Paul shares arguments for and against the death penalty with us, but debunks the 'for' arguments with facts and stats. For example, did you know it actually costs more to have someone on death row than to imprison them for life? We discuss cases in the UK and US where innocent people have been given the death penalty and have later been found to be innocent, though sometimes after they've been executed. We discuss the inhumanity of the death penalty and different methods used to execute people. Paul also tells us about some of the psychological impacts the death penalty has on the people on death row, executioners themselves and on victims' families.

Timestamps

[1.02] How the Anti Death-Penalty Project began and why Paul got involved

[4:44] Arguments for and against the death penalty

[12:53] Why do countries with the death penalty tend to have higher crime?

[14:36] Some cases where innocent people have been given the death penalty in the UK and US

[16:28] How many countries use the death penalty?

[19:10] Methods used in execution and how they can go wrong

[22:45] Psychological impacts of the death penalty

[28:00] Do victims’ families want the death penalty?

[32:50] Death row syndrome

[35:45] What do we do with people who are incapable of change?

You can learn more about Amnesty's death penalty work here.

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The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are not the views or opinions of the host.