Welcome to Deadline’s official blog! As you might not know, a film like ours getting such a large broadcast is a huge opportunity for us (and the documentary film world at large). We are launching an ambitious outreach campaign and learning as we go. Here we’ll chronicle some of the highlights of the ride we’ve all been on as well as give the latest information about what is happening with the death penalty in the US. Sometimes we will have an open thread where you can ask questions, talk to us (and one another) and most importantly keep the dialogue going about what is going on in the criminal justice system in the United States. We hope you enjoy it! Feel free to comment throughout the site. We really want to create a dialogue here.
Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are solely the views of the individuals and are not representative of Big Mouth Productions or Arts Engine, Inc.
Latest Entries
The Past Year for Deadline and the Death Penalty
December 19, 2006
Hey blog community! Things have been busy here at Arts Engine. This year has been a great year for Deadline. The film was broadcast on The Sundance Channel, had screenings at Yale University, Colby College and Brown University and has some upcoming January air dates on Link TV. Also, Katy was asked to go to Bedford Hills Maximum Security Correctional Facility, a women's prison in upstate New York, to talk about Deadline and social justice media. It will be some time in April.
Our latest film, Arctic Son is doing the festival run and will be broadcast sometime in 2007. We also have been working on some exciting new films about election reform and a punk band in Chicago. You'll be hearing more about them soon!
We have taken the blog out of retirement because there has been a lot happening around the death penalty lately. We wanted to share it with you. It seems that the the number of death sentences has dropped to its lowest level in decades. This has a lot to do with the publicity surrounding wrongful conviction cases. We also know for a fact that it has a lot to do with the hard work of many of our partners.
Also, a legislative commission recommended on Tuesday that New Jersey become the first state to abolish the death penalty since states began reinstating their capital punishment laws 35 years ago. Its report found “no compelling evidence� that capital punishment serves a legitimate purpose, and increasing evidence that it “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.�
And one other news item that we never saw coming: Florida halts the death penalty:
Gov. Jeb Bush yesterday suspended all executions in Florida, citing a troubled execution on Wednesday and appointing a commission to consider the humanity and constitutionality of lethal injections.Gov. Jeb Bush is awaiting a commission’s report in March.
Hours later, a federal judge ruled that the lethal injection system in California violated the constitutional prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.“Today has been the most significant day in the history of the death penalty in America in many years,� said Jamie Fellner, director of United States programs for Human Rights Watch. “These developments show that the current lethal-injection protocols pose an unacceptable risk of cruelty.
All excerpts are from our friends at The New York Times.
If you want to get the latest updates on the death penalty, please check out our partner's website, The Death Penalty Information Center and join their mailing list. They had a great article about the recent declaration by The Federal Court that lethal injections in California are inconstitutional.
Posted by Angela at 10:19 AM
Deadline On The Sundance Channel
January 04, 2006
The director’s cut of DEADLINE will be shown on The Sundance Channel throughout the month of January at the following times:
**PREMIERE** Monday 01.09.06 at 09:00 PM
Thursday 01.19.06 at 09:45 AM
Thursday 01.19.06 at 05:30 AM
Tuesday 01.31.06 at 10:00 AM
Since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004, DEADLINE has been nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award and awarded numerous awards, including the Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism and the 2005 Cine Golden Eagle Special Jury Award.
The broadcast date marks nearly three years since George Ryan, the Republican governor of Illinois, decided to commute the death sentences of 167 inmates on Illinois’ death row. It also comes on the heels of California Governor Schwarzenegger's highly-contested December execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. DEADLINE not only makes a powerful statement about our nation’s capital punishment system, but it also serves as a valuable example of the staying power of investigative documentary filmmaking today.
Posted by Angela at 05:23 PM | Comments (8)
New Streaming Videos!!!!
December 29, 2005
There is some exciting new content on the site that we want to call attention to. We have excerpts from New York state's hearings on the death penalty. We also have made a short video that gives an update on what Lawrence Hayes has been up to since the film and his feelings on the parole system. These videos are included in the "In The Spotlight" section of the home page.
It has taken us a while to get this content together and we want to thank our technology team (especially Jean), Sam for directing and editing one of the videos and Kate for editing the hearings videos. Our hope for this new content is to extend the debate around the death penalty. We hope you enjoy them!
Posted by Angela at 11:54 AM | Comments (11)
Hometown Snubs Schwarzenegger
December 27, 2005
The NY Times posted this article:
For years the quaint Austrian town of Graz trumpeted its special relationship with its outsize native son, Arnold Schwarzenegger.Born in a village nearby and schooled in Graz, Mr. Schwarzenegger was an honorary citizen and holder of the town's Ring of Honor. Most conspicuously, the local sports stadium was named after him.
But early on Monday, under cover of darkness, his name was removed from the arena in a sort of uncontested divorce between the California governor and the town council, which had been horrified that he rejected pleas to spare the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, former leader of the Crips gang, who was executed by the state of California two weeks ago.
Posted by Angela at 03:47 PM | Comments (6)
Bringing The Death Penalty Back to NY
December 19, 2005
This quote is from an Editorial in The New York Times:
When a police officer dies in the line of duty, there is a natural desire to look for ways to prevent such tragedies in the future. Gov. George Pataki responded to the fatal shooting of Officer Dillon Stewart this week with a call for reinstating the death penalty. That is unlikely to save the lives of officers who find themselves facing violent suspects. Most potential cop killers are not the kind of people likely to consider the consequences of their worst impulses. The allegations about the man accused of killing Officer Stewart - that he was a man already wanted by the authorities who sped through a traffic light while carrying 53 bags of marijuana - provide a perfect description of a person who would not be prudent enough to resist grabbing a handy gun.
The legislature will vote this Wednesday. Take action to let Pataki know how you feel.
Posted by Angela at 10:34 AM | Comments (3)
New Jersey Senate Approves Moratorium
December 16, 2005
The New Jersey Senate passed a bill today to suspend executions:
"By its action today, the Senate has signaled its deep concern with the State's current death penalty system and sent a clear message that the death penalty just does not work," said Celeste Fitzgerald, Director of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a statewide organization that advocates replacing the death penalty with life without parole."This vote underscores what a growing number of New Jerseyans have come to realize; the death penalty risks executing the innocent, is unfairly applied, fails victims' families and law enforcement, and wastes millions of taxpayer dollars," said Fitzgerald.
Posted by Angela at 03:29 PM | Comments (3)
Tookie Williams Was Executed
December 13, 2005
This morning, Tookie Williams was executed. Here is the Governor's statement. Here is a troubling excerpt:
The dedication of Williams’ book “Life in Prison� casts significant doubt on his personal redemption. This book was published in 1998, several years after Williams’ claimed redemptive experience. Specifically, the book is dedicated to “Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt, Ramona Africa, John Africa, Leonard Peltier, Dhoruba Al-Mujahid, George Jackson, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the countless other men, women, and youths who have to endure the hellish oppression of living behind bars.� The mix of individuals on this list is curious. Most have violent pasts and some have been convicted of committing heinous murders, including the killing of law enforcement.But the inclusion of George Jackson on this list defies reason and is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed and that he still sees violence and lawlessness as a legitimate means to address societal problems.
Posted by Angela at 10:46 AM | Comments (13)
8 Days Left For Tookie Williams
December 05, 2005
The New York Times has an interesting op-ed on this case:
If Governor Schwarzenegger were to allow this prisoner to go to his death, he would suffer little political damage. Tookie Williams fits no one's definition of innocence. He was convicted of murdering four people - a 7-Eleven clerk shot twice in the back during a holdup, and three members of a family during a robbery at a motel - and as a leader of the Crips he set in motion a criminal enterprise that destroyed countless lives.But his notoriety, his former viciousness, is precisely what gives him credibility in his current work - persuading young people to avoid gangs. His claim for clemency rests on the good work he is performing in prison, and that is a decision that the court system is not designed to handle. Rather, it is up to Governor Schwarzenegger to decide whether allowing Mr. Williams to continue living behind bars might better serve society's interests than sending him to his death - that is, to decide whether that older conception of clemency still has a place in our culture. (As he weighs this decision, Mr. Schwarzenegger might consider that the last California governor to grant clemency to a death-row inmate was his political hero, Ronald Reagan.)
There is still time to get involved with this case.
Posted by Angela at 05:52 PM | Comments (3)
1000th Execution
November 28, 2005
This is a new initiative from The Death Penalty Information Center for the upcoming 1,000th execution:
As the United States approaches its 1000th execution since the resumption of executions in 1977, more and more people understand that the death penalty makes mistakes, disproportionately affects the poor and people of color, doesn't deter crime, and is expensive, arbitrary, and immoral. Join us in saying "We get it, enough already: Abolish the death penalty."
There are a lot of things you can do to participate so check it out.
Posted by Angela at 03:57 PM | Comments (8)
Kansas Death Penalty to be Presented to Supreme Court
November 22, 2005
Two Lawrence lawyers are preparing to present the case against the state's death penalty to the U.S. Supreme Court.Rebecca Woodman and Janine Cox present the case to the U.S. Supreme Court next month. They work with the Kansas Capital Appellate Defender's Office.
The Supreme Court agreed earlier this year to take the case at the request of Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, who'll appear on behalf of the state. Arguments are scheduled for December seventh.
No one has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in Kansas in 1994. But six people are on death-row in Kansas.
The state Supreme Court struck down the state's death penalty law last year because of how it said juries should consider the evidence for imposing a death sentence.
Posted by beth at 10:18 AM | Comments (3)
