Death Row
A Comprehensive Look at America's Most Controversial Punishment
Genres
Overview
The death penalty in the United States is as old as the country itself, with roots to the original European settlements. During this time over 15,000 men and women have been executed, eventually spurring a heated debate about this ultimate punishment. Featuring interviews and commentary from leading criminal and sociology experts, this documentary takes an inside look at the origins of America's capital punishment laws, the methods of execution, and the faces of evil who have received the death sentence including Ted Bundy, Timothy McVeigh, and John Wayne Gacy. Also get a glimpse into the prison cells and lives of those who await their fate on Death Row.
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
334 min
Release Date
Status
Released
Original Language
English
Vote Count
0
Vote Average
0
7.0
Death and the Judge
The documentary, " Death and the Judge", revolves around Iran's most famous criminal judge, Azizmohammadi. He served as a criminal judge for 45 years and issued about 4500 death sentences; a record in not only Iran, but also the world. This documentary looks into his personal and professional life as he is followed within his home with his family, in the court of law, and in his retirement days. The ultimate purpose of the documentary is to deduce the role of death in the judge's life as he either takes life away from criminals or death comes to his loved ones. During his retirement, he is once again given the choice between the life and death of a person, despite no longer being a judge.
2018-05-09 | fa
6.2
Waiting for the Sun
In China more people are on death row than the rest of the world combined. The children of the convicts are often left alone, stigmatized and living in the streets. Grandma Zhang, as the kids call her, is a former prison guard who has founded an orphanage in Nanzhao.
2017-03-19 | en
6.7
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.
2003-09-09 | en
0.0
Executing the Insane: The Case of Scott Panetti
Scott Panetti was tried for the capital murder of his parents-in-law on September 8, 1992 in Gillespie County, Texas. He was subsequently sentenced to death on September 22, 1995. Panetti has an extensive history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, manic depression, auditory hallucinations and paranoia. Panetti was hospitalized, both voluntarily and involuntarily for mental illness fourteen times in six different hospitals before his arrest for capital murder in 1992. Following his conviction, Panetti’s former wife, and daughter of the victims, Sonja Alvarado, filed a petition stating that Panetti never should have been tried for the crimes as he was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the killings.
2007-01-01 | en
5.4
The State of Texas vs. Melissa
Melissa Lucio was the first Hispanic woman sentenced to death in Texas. For ten years she has been awaiting her fate, and now faces her last appeal.
2021-09-15 | en
0.0
The Hanging of William Carr
The hanging of child murderer, William Carr
1897-12-17 | en
8.0
Women on Death Row
Look into the personal lives of women currently awaiting execution on Death Row. Though each woman is convicted of committing society's ultimate crime, there is often another side of the story.
2006-01-08 | en
6.9
Into the Abyss
We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.
2011-11-11 | en
6.6
Give Up Tomorrow
When a teenager from a political family in the Philippines is accused of a double murder, the country’s entire judicial system is put to the test after years of alleged corruption.
2011-04-06 | en
7.4
The Fear of 13
After 23 years on Death Row a convicted murderer petitions the court asking to be executed, but as his story unfolds, it becomes clear that nothing is what it seems.
2015-10-15 | en
6.7
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer
In this documentary, filmmaker Nick Broomfield follows the saga of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who has been accused of committing a brutal series of murders. Broomfield conducts interviews with Wuornos herself, and his crew films her trial as well as her interactions with religious fanatic Arlene Pralle, who gives Wuornos dubious advice and legally adopts her. The cameras also roll as the accused's attorney ignores the case at hand to negotiate a deal to sell his client's story.
1992-11-01 | en
9.0
Last Supper
Today, the ritual of giving the last supper to the condemned person has been detached from its origin, and can be perceived to be as absurd as the punishment it accompanies. Mats Bigert & Lars Bergström's film “The Last Supper” focuses on this discrepancy between historical “meaning” and contemporary use of a tradition that has lost its connection with the past. The main character is the former death row chef Brian Price, who reconstructs one of the 200 final meals that he prepared during his time as inmate in Huntsville State Prison, Texas.
2005-12-03 | en
0.0
An Execution by Hanging
A depiction in the hanging of Edward Heinson, an assumed criminal assault convict in Jacksonville, Florida.
1898-07-06 | en
5.8
Devil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground
Geraldo Rivera investigates allegations of a widespread Satanic underground in the United States.
1988-10-22 | en
0.0
Execution of a Teenage Girl
On 15 August 2004, a 16-year-old girl was hanged in a public square in Neka, a small Iranian town by the Caspian Sea. Atefeh Sahaaleh's death sentence was for "crimes against chastity". Despite Iran being a signatory to an international convention that promises not to sentence to death or execute those under 18, permission was obtained from Iran's Supreme Court by the local mullah and head of the city's administration to do exactly that. Eyewitness accounts and dramatic reconstructions, plus undercover filming in Atefah's hometown tell the powerful story of the life and tragic death of an ordinary girl.
2006-07-27 | en
7.2
Seamstress
A documentary film about Martta Koskinen, the last executed woman in Finland during the war in 1943. Martta was a Seamstress who lived in Helsinki during the Second World War. She was one of the post-civil war (in 1918) generation for whom the war had meant a disappointment in the system and failure in unity of the Finnish nation. The legacy of the civil war had left systems of persecution in place for those with socialist ideals. Martta and her fellow revolutionaries were determined to continue the resistance movement although they knew that at worst it could cost their lives. Martta was imprisoned twice before she was shot. She was an idealist, whose seemingly harmless, naive beliefs in peace and justice were the most dangerous traits a person could have at the time.
2015-09-25 | fi
7.3
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
A further investigation into the arrest of three teenagers convicted of killing three young boys in Arkansas who spent nearly 20 years in prison before being released after new DNA evidence indicated they may be innocent.
2012-10-13 | en
0.0
An American Tragedy
Jeffrey Ferguson has been on death row for 26 years. Now he has just one hour left before he is put to death. Would you forgive the man who killed your daughter?
2018-11-11 | en
10.0
Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
The film chronicles the life and revolutionary times of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
2013-02-01 | en
6.0
Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt?
Documentary covering the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a black nationalist and journalist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer and sentenced to death in a trial marked by controversial prosecutorial and defense tactics and charges of racism.
1998-03-01 | en