Death Penalty

Susan Calman explores issues on which she has strong opinions.

This time, she examines the issues surrounding the Death Penalty from the perspective gained whilst working on Death Row.

Susan was always stoically against capital punishment - because that was the expected position for a liberal student to take - and thought that she knew all about it. But it's very easy being so liberal when you're sitting in a country that doesn't have the death penalty.

Then, as a law student, she travelled to North Carolina and worked on Death Row for a time. What she experienced whilst there persuaded her absolutely that she thought Capital Punishment was utterly wrong.

This is a story about the transition from casually adopting received opinion to developing your own belief system.

Producer: Lyndsay Fenner

First broadcast on Radio 4 in February 2013.