Articles about Secondary trauma

A new study finds that 3 percent of executions in the United States were "botched." What the study doesn't tell you is the r

Included in the hundreds of thousands of people that spoke out against last week's execution of Troy Davis were

For every execution, there is a team of executioners.

The New Hampshire Commission to Study the Death Penalty recently held its fourth public hearing.

For every execution, there is an executioner. Actually there is a whole team of people required to follow the multitude of procedures associated with carrying out a death sentence. These women and men may have had nothing to do with the crime, but they still suffer consequences.

Former prison warden, Dr. Allen Ault, recently opened up for the first time on tape about his time as a prison warden. "Everybody [who took part in executions] suffered. I still get flashbacks," Dr. Ault shares.

At the Death House Door, a new documentary about former Texas death row chaplain Rev. Carol Pickett, has been touching people and sparking conversations around the country (read a recent New York Times article here). The film is screening at churches, coffee houses, colleges, community spaces, and film festivals with crowds from a couple dozen people to nearly a hundred.

Pastor Carroll Pickett served 15 years as a death house chaplain in Huntsville, Texas, and presided over 95 executions, including the world's first lethal injection and the execution of a man who many now believe to be innocent. A remarkable new film, At the Death House Door, documents Pickett's moral and spiritual struggle with the weight of the death penalty - and stands as a bracing call for the abolition of capital punishment.

"The Execution of Solomon Harris" is a new short film featured at Sundance this year and continuing on the film festival circuit. While the story (fictional, but based on an old news account) is meant to take place about thirty years ago, the questions it raises couldn't be more relevant to today. In the film, an execution goes horribly wrong, and the warden, with protocols unable to guide him, has to decide what to do.

I strongly recommend that you go see this compelling ABC News interview with a former executioner. Jerry Givens was executioner for Virginia, a top state in execution numbers, and he personally conducted 11% of the executions that occurred nationwide between 1982 and 1999. No longer a supporter of the death penalty, Givens' past involvement still weighs on him today. Click here for the full story and video online.