Secrets of the Killing State

Secrets of the Killing State

In the popular imagination, lethal injection is a slight pinch and a swift nodding off to forever-sleep. It is performed by well-qualified medical professionals. It is regulated and carefully conducted. And it provides a “humane” death. In reality, however, not one of those things is true. Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection (NYU Press, 2025) presents the view of lethal injection that states have worked hard to hide. The story told here is bigger than the executions themselves. Fake science, torturous drugs, inept executioners, prison problems, and decades of state secrecy have created an execution method hard-wired to go wrong in countless ways.The story of lethal injection is a story of gross incompetence, law breaking, torturous deaths, and a stunning indifference to the way in which human beings die at the hands of the state. These are the secrets of the killing state—all that we know from litigation files, scientific studies, investigative journalism, autopsy reports, interviews, and scholarship across a number of fields. Death penalty expert Corinna Barrett Lain uses this groundbreaking journey into the dark reality of lethal injection to shine a light on the American death penalty more broadly and show that the state at its most powerful moment is also the state at its worst. Our guest is: Professor Corinna Barrett Lain, who is S. D. Roberts & Sandra Moore Professor of Law at University of Richmond School of Law. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is the producer of the Academic Life podcast. Playlist for listeners: The Journal of Higher Education in Prison Hands Up, Don't Shoot Freemans Challenge Carceral Apartheid Stitching Freedom Education Behind The Wall A Conversation About The Emerson Prison Initiative Teaching About Race and Racism in the College Classroom Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! You can support the show by downloading and sharing episodes. Join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 250+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And thank you for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Episoder(321)

Empathy Takes Action: An Autistic Therapist on the Radical Work of Connection

Empathy Takes Action: An Autistic Therapist on the Radical Work of Connection

Mainstream psychology has long accepted that some people (like those with autism) are naturally more logical and unemotional, while others (like so-called empaths) intuitively experience the feelings ...

30 Apr 48min

Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King

Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King

Caroline Bicks became the first scholar granted extended access by Stephen King to his private archives, a treasure trove of manuscripts that document the legendary writerʼs creative process—most of t...

23 Apr 55min

The Case for Career Services

The Case for Career Services

What exactly is career services? If you don’t know, you aren’t alone. Most of us operate from a limited or outdated idea of what career services offers, why it’s necessary, and how soon you should sta...

16 Apr 47min

The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence

The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence

Each year, police officers kill over 1,000 people they’ve sworn to protect and serve. While some cases, like George Floyd’s and Sandra Bland’s, capture national attention, most victims remain nameles...

9 Apr 57min

 The Club: Where American Artists Found Refuge in Belle Epoque Paris

The Club: Where American Artists Found Refuge in Belle Epoque Paris

In Belle Époque Paris, the Eiffel Tower was newly built, France was experiencing remarkable political stability, and American women were painting the town and gathering at a female-only Residence know...

2 Apr 51min

The Criminal Record Complex: Risk, Race, and the Struggle for Work in America

The Criminal Record Complex: Risk, Race, and the Struggle for Work in America

Most employers in the United States routinely conduct criminal background checks on job applicants, weeding out those with criminal convictions—and thus denying opportunities to those who need them m...

26 Mar 54min

 ⁠The Collective Cure: Upstream Solutions for Better Public Health⁠

 ⁠The Collective Cure: Upstream Solutions for Better Public Health⁠

A powerful blend of deeply human stories and rigorous research, The Collective Cure: Upstream Solutions for Better Public Health (Beacon Press, 2026) reveals how social and structural factors like ...

19 Mar 54min

What’s on Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life

What’s on Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life

Mothers and fathers use their time differently, with women spending roughly twice as many hours on family labor as men. But what about the gendered differences in the ways women and men think? What’s ...

12 Mar 50min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
rss-pa-konto
pengesnakk
pengepodden-2
utbytte
finansredaksjonen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
liberal-halvtime
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
rss-sunn-okonomi
rss-skravla-gar
rss-markedspuls-2
lederpodden