among the people who have been pushing president biden to take this step is brian stevenson.has been the leading anti-death penalty advocate in this country for decades. in 1989 he founded the equal justice initiative in alabama, it challenges excessive punishment broadly and that senses in particular across the country. he wrote best selling memoir, just mercy. it tells the story of a man who spent six years on death row who was not just spared execution, he was set free one brian stevenson was able to prove without a shadow of a doubt that the man was innocent, that he had been wrongly convicted. he freed him before the state had a chance to kill him. just mercy became the basis of an award-winning film with the same name and of course it starts the great michael b jordan. after president biden commuted those 37 that senses today brian stevenson said this, he said quote, we do not need to kill people to show that killing is wrong with this country. the death penalty is a torturous, flawed, expensive and error filled practice that must be abolished. i commend president biden

brian stevenson has been the leading antideath penalty advocate in this country for decades.qual justice initiative in alabama. it challenges excessive punishment broadly and challenges death sentences in particular across the country. brian stevenson's best selling memoir "just mercy" among other things tells the story of a man who spent six years on death row who was not just spared execution, he was set free when bryan stevenson was able to prove without a shadow of the doubt that man was innocent, that he was wrongly convicted. he freed him before the state had the chance to kill him. "just mercy" became an award winning film with the same name. after president biden commuted those 37 federal death sentences today, bryan stevenson said this. he said, "we do not need to kill people to show that killing is wrong in this country. the death penalty is a torturous, flawed, expensive, and error-filled practice that must be abolished. i commend president biden for this historic act and hope that governors and state executives follow the president's lead." joining us now is bryan

and author brian stevenson discusses inequities in the criminal justice system on the tenth anniversarys groundbreaking book. ♪ >> this is "pbs newshour." from the david m. rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> police today's said fingerprints and shell casings collected at the scene of last week's murder of united health care ceo brian thompson are directly connected to their prime suspect luigi mangione. the figure prince -- the fingerprints match the gun. to break down the latest i am joined in new york. william, we have new evidence linking the alleged shooter to the crime. police also say they are in possession of some notes written by him. what kind of insight is that giving us and what have right. police have at least two different pieces of writing from the suspect. what is a notebook that is allegedly full of planning details. and the other is what people are calling his manifesto. a 260 word handwritten document where reportedly he takes credit and claims responsibility for this killi

. ♪ amna: brian stevenson, the prominent lawyer and executive director of the equal justice initiativetrail representing the poor, wrongly convicted and those on death rope. he recently sat down with geoff bennett to discuss his career and the release of his best-selling book. >> brian stevenson, thank you for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> just mercy was published in october of 2014. it was adapted into a film starring michael b. jordan, a lot of the claimant attention. how has it changed the criminal justice system or the public's understanding of the system in the decades since its release? >> i had been encouraged by what has happened over the last 10 years. when i started doing this work 40 years ago they were very few resources available to people in jail and prisons, people wrongly convicted, people condemned to die. in the last 20 years, certainly in the last 10 years, it has shifted enormously. we have had eight states abolish the death penalty. rates of incarceration have dropped we are not seeing the steady increase we saw during the last decades of the 20th century. we h

joining us now is brian stevenson, the executor of the equal justice initiative.historic commutation. i would like to think that maybe this is the turning point now in the history of capital punishment in the united states, and yet, obviously, my practical fears are what happens in january as soon as trump goes back to the oval office. >> thank you, it could be with you, too. i think it's a very significant moment, and i really commend the president for this historic act. we are at a place now, where the death penalty is, in many ways, on the ropes. we have fewer death sentences than we have seen in decades, the execution rate has dropped, the latest polls suggest for the first time that people between the ages of 18 and 43 are opposed to the death penalty. several states have abolished the death penalty, in the last 10 years, we have gotten many states that have issued a moratorium on executions. but the president commuting 37 of the 40 sentences of those people is quite historic and could be sniffing them. i think it could be a turning point if governors and exe

. >> reporter: brian stevenson is the founder of the equal justice initiative and a leading death penaltypponent. >> the question is not whether people deserve to die for the crimes they've committed. the question is whether we deserve to kill. if we have a flawed, biased, unreliable system, we cannot impose this perfect punishment with an imperfect system. >> reporter: today's move coming ahead of president-elect trump's plan to resume federal executions halted under the biden administration. trump's transition team saying, "these are among the worst killers in the world," calling it an "abhorrent decision by joe biden" and "a slap in the face to the victims, their families and their loved ones." among those whose sentence was commuted, kaboni savage, a drug dealer involved in organized crime convicted of murdering 12 people, four of them children, during a fire-bombing incident at a house of a federal witness. steve melon is a former assistant u.s. attorney who helped prosecute savage. >> we are sacrificing the safety and security and concerns of the american public as well and the fami

among the people who have been pushing president biden to take this kind of step is brian stevenson.e's been the leading anti-death penalty advocate in this country for decades. in 1989 he founded equal justice in alabama. it challenges death sentences in particular all across the country. his best selling memoir "just mercy." among other things it tells the story of a man who spent six years on death row who was not just spared execution but set free when bryan stevenson was able to prove without a shadow of a doubt he was wrongly convicted. "just mercy" became the basis of an award winning film of the same name. bryan stevenson said this. he said, quote, we do not need to kill people to show killing is wrong in this country. the death penalty is a tortuous, error filled practice that must be abolished. he said, quote, i commend president biden for his historic act and hope state executives follow the presidency. joining us now is bryan stevenson, stevenson,. thanks for making the time. >> it's great to be with you. >> let me just start by asking you why you think this action by pre

next, i'm going to be joined by acclaimed civil rights attorney, brian stevenson, who has dedicated his career to fighting for justice for the incarcerated. we'll discuss the problematic history of the death penalty and why some are sentenced to capital punishment and others are not. you're watching "velshi" on msnbc. you're watching "velshi" on msnbc. the finance guy, will it make him softer? bounce can't do it all but for better laundry, ♪ put a sheet on it with bounce. ♪ ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ woah, limu! we're in a parade. everyone customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. and you have this dream every night? yeah, every night! hmm... i see. (limu squawks) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ my name is brayden. i was five years old when i came to st. jude. i'll try and shorten down the story. so i've been having these headaches that wouldn't go away. my mom, she was just crying. what they said, your son has brain cancer. it was your worst fear coming to life. wat

penalty cases to ultimately life in prison is really, really important, because what it does, to "brian stevenson, it basically says, look, we can show that killing, that crime, that violence is wrong without sanctioning it by the state and killing more people. >> but what about the mad, mad world of misinformation? he's commuting these sentences. for lots of folks in different media silos, their headline is biden's okay with the child killing, which is not the case, but the headline of he commuted the sentences of these killers. how short-term damaging effect? >> i think in the immediate sense it echoes one of the problems this administration has continued to have throughout this entire tenure, which is owning the narrative in the public discourse. i think that's a key communication issue that they need to get in front of. because as you've already said, we know that the misinformation cycle is going to come. we can predict where this narrative is going to be twisted and turned, and so what that administration has to its advantages a head start, to say, look, we have the ability to craft a narra

brian stevenson said this to me the other evening, of course you put one foot going in front of the other-year time-out doesn't work. >> it doesn't work. i mean, it's not in anyone's interest. i wonder how you operationalize that, eddie? how do you get people beyond not just the logistical hurdles of getting back out there and fighting for what is good, how do you get them through the emotional hurdles of that right now? >> you really have to acknowledge it. you have to acknowledge that we're not okay. we have to understand our responsibility. baldwin said responsibility is not lost, responsibility is abdicated. if one refuses abdication, one refuses again. we are getting our babies to the other side of this. when the storm comes, the storms are always coming, our task is to make sure our babies get to the other side. that's how you wake up and put your feet on the ground and get up even though, as dr. king did when they attacked those elementary school babies who were let out of school early, they beat them with bats and tree limbs, it put him in the bed. someone had to come and sing pil

. >> reporter: brian stevenson is the founder and the leading death penalty opponents. >> it is not whetherwe deserve to kill, if we have a flawed biased unreliable system, we cannot impose this perfect punishment with an imperfect system. >> a drug dealer involved in organized crime, convicted of murdering 12 people. four of them children during a fire bombing incident at a house of a federal witness. he is a former assistant u.s. attorney who helped prosecute him. >> we are sacrificing the safety and security and concerns of the american public as well as the family members of those that were adversely affected directly by this while the president is giving a christmas present to these 37 out of 40 death row inmates. >> reporter: also learning his sentences being commuted, billy allen, sentenced to death at 19 for the murder of an armed security guard in missouri. he has always maintained his innocence. we spoke to alan by telephone from prison. >> it shocked me, you know i am like okay make sure i am reading this right, i was excited. the people i thought about the most, my family. >> re