Explaining Jessie Hoffman
by KATY RECKDAHL
People still say, ‘That’s not the Jessie I knew.’ But most didn’t know what he endured at home – and that’s likely what drove him on that day, psychiatrists say.
Who gets hurt by an execution?
by DENNY LeBOEUF
Beyond the condemned, I’ve seen the harm done to family members, victims, prison guards, and even jurors. There may be too many people harmed by executions for Louisiana to bear. We don’t need this. Execution is not the solution.
The doctor defending Louisiana’s controversial execution method
by NICK CHRASTIL
Dr. Joseph Antognini travels across the nation, being paid over $500 an hour by government officials who rely on him to vouch for their execution protocols.
Firing up the chamber of death
by CLIVE STAFFORD SMITH
“Why do we kill people who may have killed people to show that killing people is wrong?” asks human-rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, recounting how he has watched six of his clients die in front of him. “Each time,” he says, “as I emerged from the Execution Chamber where I had just watched someone die, often in an unspeakable way, I looked up at the stars and wondered to myself who, in his right mind, thinks this makes the world a better place?”
The Death Penalty as Seen by Glenn Ford
by ANDREA ARMSTRONG
“Glenn Ford taught me that every chance for life matters,” writes Andrea Armstrong, of her friend, who spent 30 years on Death Row before he was cleared and released. “Despite being sentenced to death, Glenn and others on the Row refused to forget their humanity.”
Redemption and the Ultimate Punishment
by MOLLY FOWLER
“I remember feeling a flush of anger that the State of Louisiana was giving Bordelon what he wanted, relief from his guilt,” writes Molly Fowler, who visited Angola with a film crew in 2010, just as Louisiana was preparing for its last execution, of Gerald Bordelon.
FROM THE LENS VAULT