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decide to do when someone commits a horrific act of violence. for centuries seeking justice was a community affair. and disproportionate blame fell on the poor mentally disabled and people of color. in the eighteen hundreds some capital offenses were targeted specifically at slaves the stablish in a racial bias that continues today. execution. reached

a historic peak in the one nine hundred thirty s. averaging one hundred sixty seven per year but then in one thousand thirty six. a gruesome execution caught the attention of the media. on aug fourteenth in owensboro kentucky raney of the thea was publicly hanging by a white sheriff many thought but the oh was innocent. one new york times reporter wrote ten thousand white persons some jaring another's festive saw prayerful black men put to death today and davies county's piton gallus . the outcry over rainy bothy is hanging did not put an end to capital punishment instead it drove executions behind prison walls out of public view. state officials built death houses and institutionalized the practice. it's a death by formula it's

a scripted death in the beginning it was hanging it was not only hanging but it was public and so you see the crowds come in and bring in a picnic luncheon celebrating then we move from hanging to the electric chair and then we began to hammer the horror stories that happened out of the electric chair . and then has been a move to lethal injection and lethal injection is likely going medicinal so that we'll just be putting them to sleep. but not everyone agrees. the idea that they should go out in an opiate haze that it should be a pleasant that is absolutely perverse. the debate about the death penalty has become increasingly polarized and politicized we want a system that they are we want a system that respects the dignity of human beings the idea that we were executing

innocent people was terrifying and there was just no way that we hadn't and that we want some people kill with an attitude so callous heinous sadistic that they have forfeited their right to live i believe in the turn of one and that is when we execute this person we know he will never kill again why is it. that the death penalty really comes down to in many cases just where you live who your d.n.a. is we cannot recognize injustice when we feel that people of not being treated fairly with people not getting a fair shot you can be critical but you can be critical of the idea that the government has the right to kill. and also hold passion and concern for victims maybe in some books of justice the person for this act deserves to die but do we as a society deserve to kill them. today capital punishment

largely falls to the state in which the crime was committed. and laws and methods vary widely. most states use lethal injection. but some still use gas chambers. the electric chair. hanging. and firing squads. carrying out the death penalty isn't trusted to specially trained guards like jerry givens. of the sixty two executions the jerries conducted thirty seven were by electrocution and twenty five by lethal injection. lethal injection is considered the more humane form but for jerry that made the job of killing another person a lot tougher. when you talk about execution and the like the kitchen is

a button you push and washing push the button. for hours in the car and the cat comes out. and. that's all i had to do was push a button. but when it come down to death by lethal injection you have seven tubes. a chemicals. you have four flushes and three deadly chemicals that is inserted into this man and my self as the executioner i'm at the end of each the re and. i'm pushing the poison. down to tune into the body so i'm more attach to this person then it is pushing a button and release and then they let the current flow by itself fifteen days prior to an execution the condemned would be moved to the death chamber where gerry and his team worked. all nine of us were executions and reprotect

a good excuse and that's what we stood by. the preparation was mental as well as physical we practice and practice and practice prior to execution. each of us knew our jobs out sign it and we never allow ourselves to get that close to anyone we train for that we train this way you don't get that close to. the day of the execution. twenty four hours prior to that which we have. call a death watch. a guy will at differently because he knew that this is the last everything. this is the serial way to condemn sperry's. this is where the warden really is

don't want this clergy person. with him. doing this course of the day they condemn is given a shower his last meal his last visitations. by six o'clock hour preparations in the stock into the inmate is placed today. at home in new hampshire karen and her family were slowly recovering from their injuries. not some much for wasm physical abilities things like. specially for me my rose colored glasses you know. just the reality.

that. people are. different. things are not the same. when even with ron and i. who are working through things and i'm working through things that. it had been six months since the bombing and karen had not yet seen her good friend celeste who was with them at the finish line and lost both her legs and been planning. initially i. i couldn't bring myself. to do so. because i doubt. he'll. celeste and sixteen others lost limbs that day. ron was one of the lucky ones doctors were able to save his leg but the trauma and pain still lingered. we're

going to have to work for a lifetime to get timber new normal whatever that going to be. after months of deliberation attorney general eric holder announced the u.s. would seek the death penalty. the defense will argue that zocor was pressured into it by his older brother that he was a popular well liked college kid led astray. you know it's going to help a lot and i agree and i and i. but i. just can't still pending. karen son was the same age is no car. didn't seem like such

a hard decision when it was abstract. you know i've got family and friends who are very religious and don't believe in it and that i have others who say. it's the right thing to do they're so sure. i don't know that it's right for me to make that decision to take someone else's life. in philadelphia shannon's killer was still on the loose. the she worst pressed france or so but the police had none. it's just like you're in a coma you mean you're just like walking through something but you you don't know exactly how you're going to deal with them how am i ever ever going to get through this. this is tremendous sense of loss.

and you know for some time i could visualize feeling that walking through a door squawking in the house and walking through the door seeing our doc at the bed she told me. she was so kind and generous and loving and helpful and she always would come to us and say mom dad i have to make a difference. there was a little mini thing. she had a tremendous appetite. for learning everybody loves santa and everybody loved her she was a little extreme way over and over. in their grief vicki and still turn to each other and reached out for support. this takes time and doesn't you know everybody goes down a different path at a different time line to this journey toward healing they begin attending support meetings for families of murder victims. there they saw the devastating toll of

sorrow and anger. the father of one of the murdered daughters we know well took his first drink and he never stopped for a year and she lost his job and marriage but welch's daughter was one of one hundred sixty six people killed in the timothy mcveigh bombing of oklahoma city. one night about a year later he woke up in the morning and he had this dream and his daughter julie was there telling him dad dad he murdered me are you going to let him murder whole family. also saw the high price people paid for putting their lives on hold as they waited for an execution. we start finding out what murder victims' families go through if you decide to say look i want that man executed it would take fifteen twenty years as much longer for it actually to happen and we just saw the effects

that this had on these family members we saw it destroying their lives. we have no idea what safety is doing on vacation but she will be back on air in september. you know world a big part of the movie lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig

deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the bath and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. to begin to. open up a basic premise in the. now single review of.