Call That Justice

Every day, tens of thousands of children around the world wake up behind bars. Many of them will have committed no offence. BBC investigates children's rights in justice systems around the world. In a hard-hitting three-part series called ' Call That Justice', BBC uncovers a global scandal about the neglect and abuse of children's rights within the justice system, around the world.

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Capital Punishment

The question as to whether or not it is morally acceptable for the state to execute people, and if so under what circumstances, has been debated for centuries. The ethical problems involved include the general moral issues of punishment with the added problem of whether it is ever morally right to deprive a human being of life.

To learn more about various issues related to capital punishment, click on the URL below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/capitalpunishment/

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When Kids Get Life

The United States is one of the only countries in the world that allows children under 18 to be sentenced to life without parole. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International report that more than 2,000 inmates are currently serving life without parole in the United States for crimes committed when they were juveniles; in the rest of the world, there are only 12 juveniles serving the same sentence, according to figures reported to the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In When Kids Get Life, FRONTLINE producer Ofra Bikel (The O.J. Verdict, Innocence Lost) travels to Colorado to profile five individuals sentenced to life without parole as juveniles.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/whenkidsgetlife

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The OJ Verdict

On October 3, 1995, an estimated 150 million people stopped what they were doing to witness the televised verdict of the O.J. Simpson trial. For more than a year, the O.J. saga transfixed the nation and dominated the public imagination.

Ten years later, veteran FRONTLINE producer Ofra Bikel revisits the "perfect storm" that was the O.J. Simpson trial. Through extensive interviews with the defense, prosecution and journalists, FRONTLINE explores the verdict -- which, more than any other in recent history, measured the difference between being white and black in America. (more) »

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/oj/

More Resources

Was Justice done in O J Simpson Case ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O.J._Simpson

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Simpson/simpson.htm

http://www.cnn.com/US/OJ/

http://www.courttv.com/casefiles/simpson/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6165254.stm

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Burden of Innocence

Clyde Charles spent 17 years in Louisiana's state penitentiary at Angola before DNA testing finally cleared him of the rape for which he had received a life sentence.

Frederick Daye, Neil Miller, and Anthony Robinson each spent 10 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit before they were finally exonerated.

And Ron Williamson spent 11 years on Oklahoma's Death Row for a rape and murder he didn't commit. At one point, he was just five days away from being executed.

When these men walked out of prison, they were greeted by media cameras (including FRONTLINE's, in the case of Clyde Charles), jubilant family members, and triumphant attorneys. Hopes were high. Yet when FRONTLINE found Charles three years later, he was jobless and homeless, living in his car. And he is not alone. Charles is one of hundreds of wrongfully convicted prisoners -- the most celebrated being the approximately 130 cleared by DNA evidence -- who have found that re-entry into society is much more difficult than they ever expected.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/burden

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