3 essential documentaries for understanding the death penalty in the United States

Far from the pathos and the spectacular staging of certain Hollywood films that have dealt with the subject with more or less success, several documentaries have, recently and not, showed the death penalty in the United States for what it is : the result of a failed, unjust and racist judicial system, which, far from bringing justice and reparation to the relatives of the victims, generates new violence.

Here are some documentaries to discover to understand the violence and absurdity of capital punishment in the United States:

Into the abyss (2012)

In 2010 he directed the immense director Werner Herzog Into the abyss. Explore the case of an inmate, Michael Perry, not to probe possible regrets, but to understand the context of the social and family misery of this heinous crime, the murder of three people with the aim of stealing a carwith an accomplice, Jason Burkett, sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Into the abyss it focuses with precision and patience on the mechanisms of reproduction of violence. Without relieving Michael Perry of the evil he did, Werner Herzog, whose calm voice we hear asking questions off-screen, tends to question (us) the notion of justice, revenge, forgiveness. Speaking with the condemned in his last days, but also with his relatives (also some members of his family in prison), as well as with the relatives of his victims, he reconstructs the picture of the crime, also chilling than dizzying.

Available on YouTube.

Fourteen Days in May (1987)

Fourteen days before his execution, on May 20, 1987, Edward Earl Johnson, sentenced to death for the murder of a policeman and the rape of a woman, crimes for which he has always maintained his innocencea film crew attended for an HBO documentary.

His lawyers, his family, the guards of the penitentiary wing where the condemned to death reside, the director of the prison, are all visible in Fourteen days in May showing life on death row, the disturbing and disturbing banality of the last few days of a condemned man, the preparations, the farewells, the hope of a good news that vanishes as the days pass.

A gas chamber test scene, where Edward Earl Johnson will be executed, provoked upset reactions at the time of the broadcast: we see a rabbit placed in the airlock to test its tightness and make sure the lethal gas is working. HBO then received several letters denouncing the sacrifice of an innocent rabbit. It’s hard not to see a morbid irony in this, since the film ends with the death of Edward Earl Johnson.

Available through Reprieve.

The State of Texas vs. Melissa (2020)

The story of Melissa Lucio, the first Hispanic woman sentenced to death in the United States, is that of a poor and racialized woman accused of infanticide and her failed trial.

Director Sabrina Van Tassel wanted to tell her story and the struggle of her relatives and her lawyers to save her from death row where she spent more than ten years. Reconstructing the shortcomings of the investigation, the withdrawal of some important evidence, but also the electoral issues that led to the conviction, The State of Texas vs. Melissa it is a symbol of the defects of the judicial machine.

Since the release of the film in 2021, the execution has been suspended a few hours before the scheduled date and Melissa Lucio he should be entitled to a retrial.

Available on MyCanal