Airs Sunday, June 28, at 6 p.m.A recent Gallup poll found that Americans are still largely supportive of the death penalty, with 6 in 10 in favor as punishment for murder. At the heart of the debate are many complicated questions. Within a flawed criminal justice system, is it possible to know every person’s guilt with a sufficient degree of certainty? Does the fear of death reduce crime? Are some crimes so heinous in nature that punishment by death is the only appropriate measure, or is capital punishment always immoral?
The debaters are:
For The Motion: Diann Rust-Tierney, Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty; and Robert Blecker, Co-Director of the Innocence Project & Professor of Law at Cardozo Law.
Against The Motion: Barry Scheck, Professor of Law at New York Law School; Kent Scheidegger, Legal Director at the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.