[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA

[Rick Halperin]

August 18


USA:

On the Trail of Former Death Row Inmates


Joan Cheever, author of Back from the Dead, followed former death row
inmates who were released when the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty
unconstitutional in 1972.

see: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5662491

see:_http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5662491

NPR: Tales from the Underworld: _On the Trail of Former Death Row Inmates


Related NPR Stories

June 13, 2006----Justices Open Door for Death Row Challenges

June 12, 2006----High Court Allows Lethal-Injection Challenges

Jan. 17, 2006----California Executes Oldest Death Row Inmate

Jan. 11, 2006----High Court Hears DNA Appeal from Death Row

Dec. 12, 2005----Road to Redemption Difficult on Death Row

(source: NPR)

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Back From The Dead


What would happen if the United States abolished the death penalty and
emptied its Death Rows? If the killers were released from prison?

What would they do with their 2nd chance to live? Would they kill again?

Back From The Dead is the story of 589 former death row inmates who,
through a lottery of fate, were given a 2nd chance at life in 1972 when
the death penalty was abolished; it returned to the United States 4 years
later.

During the years she represented Walter Williams on Texas Death Row,
Cheever always wondered what would happen if his death sentence was
reversed and he was eventually released from prison. Would he have killed
again?

2 years after Williams' execution, Cheever was determined to find the
answer. Leaving her young family and comfortable life in suburbia, she
traveled across the U.S. and into the lives and homes of former death row
inmates, armed only with a tape recorder, notepad, a cell phone that didnt
always work, and a lot of faith. In Back from the Dead, Cheever describes
her own journey and reveals these tales of 2nd chances: of tragedy and
failure, racism and injustice, and redemption and rehabilitation.

see: http://www.backfromthedeadusa.com/

(source: Joan Cheever)