Radiolab Presents: More Perfect: Cruel and Unusual
June 15, 2016 10:02 PM - Subscribe

On the inaugural episode of More Perfect, we explore three little words embedded in the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: “cruel and unusual.” America has long wrestled with this concept in the context of our strongest punishment, the death penalty. A majority of “we the people” (61 percent, to be exact) are in favor of having it, but inside the Supreme Court, opinions have evolved over time in surprising ways.

And outside of the court, the debate drove one woman in the UK to take on the U.S. death penalty system from Europe. It also caused states to resuscitate old methods used for executing prisoners on death row. And perhaps more than anything, it forced a conversation on what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

After you listen to the episode:

The key links: The key voices: The key cases:
posted by Going To Maine (1 comment total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
After listening to this episode (and the next), my only regret about this podcast is that it is a miniseries instead of a spinoff. It's so interesting! Amicus is wonderful but they don't often dig this deeply into the weeds.
posted by possibilityleft at 4:35 AM on June 18, 2016


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