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"Lighting money on fire": The vast dysfunction of the death penalty

Jun 08, 2023

In February, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announced that he would continue the moratorium on executions started by his predecessor, Tom Wolf. Shapiro also went a step further than Wolf, calling on the legislature to repeal the death penalty in its entirety.

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In February, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announced that he would continue the moratorium on executions started by his predecessor, Tom Wolf. Shapiro also went a step further than Wolf, calling on the legislature to repeal the death penalty in its entirety.

Marc Bookman is the executive director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, a former attorney in the homicide unit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, and the author of A Descending Spiral: Exposing the Death Penalty in 12 Essays. In this conversation, Marc explains just how dysfunctional capital punishment is in Pennsylvania and why, despite two decades since the last execution, the death penalty is very real in the commonwealth.

Resources

Atlantic Center for Capital Representation

A Descending Spiral: Exposing the Death Penalty in 12 Essays

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Criminal Justice Reform Death Penalty View All Issues

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