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At the End of Death Row

Rajini Vaidyanathan travels to Tennessee to explore the future of the death penalty in the United States.

A series of botched executions in early 2014, shortages of drugs for lethal injections, and moves in several states to abandon execution have re-ignited the debate in the United States about the death penalty.

In this programme ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan travels across the southern state of Tennessee, where the state legislature recently passed a law re-introducing the electric chair if drugs for lethal injection become unavailable.

Rajini speaks to people across the political spectrum - church ministers keen to end executions, the parents of a murder victim who want to see justice done, a man released after 20 years on death row, and a state representative who backed the new law. She hears a debate filled with tragedy, and nuance, and asks where it might be heading.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Mon 21 Jul 2014 20:00

Broadcast

  • Mon 21 Jul 2014 20:00