RACE TO EXECUTION

[happyhaddock]

RACE TO EXECUTION

Race discrimination infects America’s capital punishment system. According to a landmark study regarding race and the death penalty, a black defendant who kills a white victim is up to 30 times more likely to be sentenced to death than a white defendant who kills a black victim. RACE TO EXECUTION, a film by Rachel Lyon, traces the fates of two death row inmates, Robert Tarver in Russell County, Alabama and Madison Hobley in Chicago, Illinois. Their compelling personal stories are enlarged and enriched by attorneys who fought for these men’s lives, and by prosecutors, criminal justice scholars and experts in the fields of law and the media.

<MORE> . . .

[pumpkinpie]

happyhaddock said:

RACE TO EXECUTION

Race discrimination infects America’s capital punishment system. According to a landmark study regarding race and the death penalty, a black defendant who kills a white victim is up to 30 times more likely to be sentenced to death than a white defendant who kills a black victim. RACE TO EXECUTION, a film by Rachel Lyon, traces the fates of two death row inmates, Robert Tarver in Russell County, Alabama and Madison Hobley in Chicago, Illinois. Their compelling personal stories are enlarged and enriched by attorneys who fought for these men’s lives, and by prosecutors, criminal justice scholars and experts in the fields of law and the media.

<MORE> . . .

How was this movie? Did you end up watching it?

Another thing that is always factored in, when someone is convicted of a crime is gender. Women seem to get slap in the wrist- light sentences, in cases where the evidence of guilt is clear. Meanwhile men get death sentences for circumstantial cases, when sometimes they are innocent.

I'm curious to see what kind of sentence Mary Winkler ends up getting, or if the jury is just sweet and sympathetic because she's a female. She was already let out on bond before the trial. I hope she does get her 60 years to life sentence in prison.

Do you think if a man drowned 5 kids in a bath tub like Andrea Yates did, that he would get life in a mental institution? Mentally ill or not, he'd probably get the death penalty. I don't entirely disagree with Andrea Yates's sentence, but I think it shows how unfair our justice system is to some people. Some get help, others don't. You have to be crazy to commit a murder, I'd say. So, therefor, anyone who has it in them to commit a murder has a mental problem, or isn't well.

[pumpkinpie]

I was right about Mary Winkler (the preachers wife). I just read that the jury decided on the lighter sentence for her, 3 to 6 years in prison, but she will be elgible for parole even sooner! She only killed her husband right!? Unreal!

[thinkinkmesaaz]

www.filmakers.com/indivs/RaceExecution.htm
The above link shows this film can be purchased for $195.00.
Does anyone know if there is an affordable alternative? (Besides the also high cost of video rental also shown on that page)

[happyhaddock]

thinkinkmesaaz said:

www.filmakers.com/indivs/RaceExecution.htm
The above link shows this film can be purchased for $195.00.
Does anyone know if there is an affordable alternative? (Besides the also high cost of video rental also shown on that page)

Try libraries - maybe even college libraries? Maybe a college with a law school will show it?

[thinkinkmesaaz]

I saw it when it was shown on PBS, but I am also wishing to share this movie with a friend in Australia. I appreciate the suggestions and will start my search there since it is not scheduled to be aired again anytime soon.

[happyhaddock]

thinkinkmesaaz said:

I saw it when it was shown on PBS, but I am also wishing to share this movie with a friend in Australia. I appreciate the suggestions and will start my search there since it is not scheduled to be aired again anytime soon.

FWIW, most VCRs in Australia can play US VHS tapes fine. The reverse is not true, BTW.