A curated viewing guide for public education, community conversations, and abolition organizing. Film can start the conversations. Organizing can turn into action.
These films illuminate the failures and human consequences of capital punishment through stories of innocence, race, arbitrariness, victims’ families, execution personnel, punishment, mercy, and resistance. Use the viewing links to support screenings, discussions, trainings, and public education.
Real cases, directly impacted voices, and the systems surrounding capital punishment
1. Racist Roots: Origins of North Carolina’s Death Penalty (2022) Traces North Carolina’s death penalty from slavery and lynching through Jim Crow, mass incarceration, and the modern death penalty, examining the continuing influence of race on capital punishment. |
2. Fighting to Live, While Waiting to Die (2024) Tells the story of Billie Allen, who was sentenced to federal death row at age 19 and has maintained his innocence, examining his case and his continuing fight for freedom after decades of incarceration. |
3. The Last Defense: Julius Jones (2018) This documentary series examines flaws in the American criminal legal system through death-row cases. Its final three episodes focus on Julius Jones, a Black Oklahoma man sentenced to death for the murder of Paul Howell, examining his arrest, trial, disputed evidence, claims of innocence, and efforts to obtain a new trial. |
4. The Window on Death Row (2025) Tells the story of Joaquín José Martínez, the first Spaniard exonerated from a U.S. death row. Martínez reflects on wrongful conviction, trauma, faith, forgiveness, capital punishment, and his transformation from a death-penalty supporter into an advocate. |
5. The Phantom (2021) Investigates the execution of Carlos DeLuna in Texas and evidence suggesting another man may have committed the murder for which DeLuna was executed. |
6. The State of Texas vs. Melissa (2020) Follows the case of Melissa Lucio, a Texas mother sentenced to death for the death of her two-year-old daughter, examining questions surrounding her interrogation, conviction, and claims of innocence. |
7. The Penalty (2017) Examines the American death penalty through the experiences of a former death-row prisoner, a capital defense attorney, and a murder victim’s family member. |
8. In the Executioner’s Shadow (2018) Explores capital punishment through the perspectives of a former executioner, a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing, and parents whose daughter was murdered but who opposed executing her killer. |
9. Into the Abyss (2011) Werner Herzog examines a Texas murder case through interviews with a death-row prisoner, his accomplice, victims’ relatives, and others affected by the crime and punishment. |
10. At the Death House Door (2008) Follows Texas prison chaplain Carroll Pickett, who witnessed 95 executions, and explores how those experiences transformed his views about capital punishment. |
11. The Execution Protocol (1993) Examines the procedures and people involved in carrying out executions, including access to Missouri’s execution system and condemned prisoners. |
12. Fourteen Days in May (1987) Follows the final two weeks in the life of Edward Earl Johnson, a young Black man on Mississippi’s death row who maintained his innocence until his execution. |
13. The Thin Blue Line (1988) Investigates the case of Randall Dale Adams, who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a Dallas police officer. |
14. Deadline (2004) Documents Illinois Governor George Ryan’s examination of the state’s death-penalty system and his decision to commute the sentences of death-row prisoners. |
15. Paradise Lost Trilogy (1996–2011) Chronicles the West Memphis Three case, including Damien Echols’s death sentence, questions about the evidence and convictions, and the defendants’ eventual release. |
16. After Innocence (2005) Examines people attempting to rebuild their lives after DNA evidence exonerated them of crimes for which they had been wrongfully convicted, including individuals who faced the death penalty. |
17. The Fear of 13 (2015) Nick Yarris recounts spending more than two decades on Pennsylvania’s death row before DNA evidence led to his exoneration and release. |
18. West of Memphis (2012) Examines the West Memphis Three case, disputed evidence underlying the convictions, and the campaign to secure the defendants’ release. |
19. Lovely Jackson (2022/2024) Tells the story of Rickey Jackson, who was wrongfully convicted of a 1975 Cleveland murder at age 18 and sentenced to death based on coerced eyewitness testimony from a 12-year-old boy. Jackson spent three years on death row and 39 years incarcerated before his exoneration and release in 2014. The documentary explores wrongful conviction, survival, forgiveness, and the journey from death row to freedom. |
20. Lindy Lou, Juror Number 2 (2017) Follows Lindy Lou Isonhood, a Mississippi juror who voted to sentence a man convicted of a double homicide to death. Twenty years later, struggling with guilt and regret, she seeks out her fellow jurors to learn how the experience affected them. The documentary examines the lasting emotional consequences of capital punishment on jurors. |
21. Last Day of Freedom (2015) When Bill Babbitt realizes his brother Manny has committed a crime, he agonizes over whether to call the police. This animated documentary tells the story of Bill’s decision to stand by his brother in the face of war, crime, and capital punishment, exploring veterans’ care, mental health access, race, family, and the criminal legal system. |
22. Prisoner by Choice: The Frankie San Story (2024) A documentary following Frankie San and his experiences and work connected to incarceration. |
23. The Empty Chair: Death Penalty Yes or No (2003) Examines the aftermath of murder through four victims’ families who hold differing views about capital punishment. The documentary follows their struggles with grief, anger, revenge, forgiveness, and healing and asks whether execution can address the pain experienced by victims’ families. |
24. There Will Be No Stay (2015/2016) Examines the death penalty from the rarely heard perspective of people charged with carrying out executions. The documentary follows former executioners and others connected to the execution process as they describe the psychological and emotional consequences of participating in state-sanctioned killing. |
25. Faith Leaders of Color Coalition (FLOCC) Video Highlights the work of Black clergy organizing to abolish the death penalty. |
26. Sentenced to Death: The Murder that Unsettled Arkansas (2023) Forty years ago, Barry Lee Fairchild was arrested for the murder of Marjorie ‘Greta’ Mason. This documentary looks at the investigation and the questions that remain. |
27. I Am Ready, Warden (2024) Follows the final days of Texas death-row prisoner John Henry Ramirez as he seeks redemption and forgiveness before his execution, examining the human impact of capital punishment. |
28. The Yogurt Shop Murders (2025) A four-part documentary series revisiting the 1991 murders of four teenagers in Austin, Texas, including the wrongful convictions of two men, one of whom was sentenced to death. |
29. God Save Texas: Hometown Prison (2024) Filmmaker Richard Linklater examines daily life in Huntsville, Texas, home to the state’s execution chamber, through conversations with prison employees, students, and community members. |
30. The Innocence Files (2020) A documentary series examining wrongful convictions caused by flawed forensic evidence, mistaken identification, and prosecutorial misconduct. Episode 8 focuses on Texas death-row exoneree Alfred Dewayne Brown. |
31. A Broken Promise in Texas: Race, the Death Penalty and the Duane Buck Case (2013) Examines racial discrimination in the Texas death-penalty system through the case of Duane Buck, whose sentencing included testimony linking race to future dangerousness. |
32. #DeathPenaltyFail: A Conservative Concern (2016) Follows Pat Monks as he speaks with conservatives who have firsthand experience with the death penalty and Texas death-row exoneree Alfred Dewayne Brown. |
33. Debunked Science Put This Man on Death Row. He’s Going to Be Executed Anyway (2024) A New York Times Opinion video examining the case of Texas death-row prisoner Charles Flores and the use of testimony from a witness who had been hypnotized. |
34. A Plea for Justice: Why Texas Will be Executing an Innocent Man A multi-part documentary series examining the evidence in the case of Rodney Reed and the campaign surrounding his scheduled 2019 execution. |
35. Why This Son Fought to Stop His Father’s Killer From Being Executed Profiles Mitesh Patel’s opposition to the execution of Christopher Young and explores mercy, remorse, family, and the effects of execution on children. |
36. 48 Hours: Grave Injustice (2012) Tells the story of Anthony Graves, who spent years on Texas death row for a crime he did not commit before his conviction was overturned and he was exonerated. |
37. On Death Row (2012–2013) Werner Herzog interviews people sentenced to death in a documentary miniseries examining their cases, crimes, and lives under sentence of death. |
38. Executing the Insane (2007) Chronicles the case of Scott Panetti, who was sentenced to death in Texas despite a long documented history of severe mental illness, and examines the impact on his family. |
39. Incendiary: The Willingham Case (2011) Examines the arson evidence used to convict and execute Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas and the later scientific controversy surrounding the case. |
40. Juan Melendez 6446 (2008) Tells the story of Juan Roberto Melendez-Colon, who spent 6,446 days on Florida’s death row before being exonerated. |
41. One for Ten (2013) An online documentary series profiling ten people freed from death row and using their cases to examine major causes of wrongful convictions. |
42. True Conviction (2018) Follows Texas exonerees Christopher Scott, Johnnie Lindsey, and Steven Phillips as they investigate claims of innocence and help wrongfully convicted prisoners seek freedom. |
43. True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality (2019) Profiles attorney Bryan Stevenson’s work challenging racial discrimination, poverty, wrongful convictions, and capital punishment. |
44. #SaveChrisYoung Series (2018) A short-film interview series by filmmaker Laurence Thrush featuring Christopher Young, his family, and others involved in his case, including reflections on fatherhood, art, family, and life on death row. |
45. Death Row Stories (2014–2020) An HLN documentary series examining capital cases through the accounts of current and former death-row prisoners, lawyers, investigators, and others, with episodes exploring wrongful convictions and the fallibility of capital punishment. |
46. He Didn’t Kill His Child, But He’s About to Be Executed Anyway (2024) A New York Times Opinion video featuring a meeting on death row between Robert Roberson and Rev. Brian Wharton, the former detective who investigated the case. |
47. Watching the Dallas Cowboys on Death Row: Our Visit to a Supermax Prison (2024) A video report in which Dave Fleming visits Charles Don Flores on Texas death row and explores his life in solitary confinement, his innocence claim, and the role sports play in life on death row. |
48. It Could Happen to You (2021) Two documentaries featuring Sabrina Butler-Smith and Randal Padgett, death row exonerees who survived a nightmare faced by far too many: being sentenced to death for a crime you did not commit. |
49. Return to Paradise (1998) A video report in which Dave Fleming visits Charles Don Flores on Texas death row and explores his life in solitary confinement, his innocence claim, and the role sports play in life on death row. |
50. Interview with an Executioner Follows Don Cabana from his days as a warden at Parchman Penitentiary in Mississippi to his anti-death penalty work thirty years later. |
51. Too Ill to Execute (2019) A film detailing the urgency of a movement to exclude those with severe mental illness from the death penalty across the U.S. |
52. Ted Talks for abolition of the death penalty Ted Talks about capital punishment by attorneys, jurors, and survivors of death row from around the world. |
Dramatized stories that open conversations about punishment, innocence, race, mercy, and state power
1. Just Mercy (2019) Based on attorney Bryan Stevenson’s representation of Walter McMillian, a Black Alabama man wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death. |
2. Clemency (2019) Follows a prison warden whose years of overseeing executions take an increasing psychological and emotional toll as another prisoner approaches execution. |
3. Dead Man Walking (1995) Based on Sister Helen Prejean’s experiences counseling people sentenced to death and working with victims’ families, exploring guilt, punishment, forgiveness, accountability, and execution. |
4. The Green Mile (1999) Tells the fictional story of a Black man sentenced to death in the Jim Crow South whose case raises questions about race, innocence, disability, humanity, and execution. |
5. Monster’s Ball (2001) Centers on a corrections officer involved in executions whose life becomes intertwined with the widow of a Black man he helped execute. |
6. The Life of David Gale (2003) A fictional thriller about a prominent death-penalty opponent who is convicted of murder and sentenced to death, raising questions about capital punishment and wrongful execution. |
7. True Crime (1999) Follows a journalist racing to investigate evidence suggesting that a Black man scheduled for execution may be innocent. |
8. The Chamber (1996) Based on John Grisham’s novel, the film follows young attorney Adam Hall as he represents his grandfather, Sam Cayhall, a former Ku Klux Klan member awaiting execution in Mississippi for a bombing that killed two young Jewish boys. The film explores the death penalty alongside racism, white supremacist violence, accountability, redemption, and mercy. |
9. A Lesson Before Dying (1999) Based on Ernest J. Gaines’s novel about a young Black man wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1940s Louisiana. |
10. The Hurricane (1999) Dramatizes the story of boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and his fight to overturn a murder conviction he maintained was wrongful and racially influenced. |
11. Marshall (2017) Dramatizes an early case involving Thurgood Marshall’s defense of a Black man accused of raping and attempting to murder a white woman in 1940s Connecticut. |
12. In Cold Blood (1967) Dramatizes the murders of the Clutter family, the prosecution of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, and their eventual executions by hanging. |
13. I Want to Live! (1958) Dramatizes the case of Barbara Graham, who was convicted of murder and executed in California’s gas chamber in 1955. |
14. Let Him Have It (1991) Dramatizes the controversial case of Derek Bentley, who was executed in Britain for a murder committed by another person and was later posthumously pardoned. |
15. Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman (2005) Dramatizes the career of British executioner Albert Pierrepoint and explores the personal, psychological, and moral consequences of carrying out state executions. |
16. 83 Days (2018) Based on the true story of George Stinney Jr., a 14-year-old Black boy in segregated South Carolina who was accused of murdering two white girls in 1944. Stinney was arrested, tried, convicted, and executed in the electric chair in just 83 days. The film examines racial injustice, failures of due process, and the deadly consequences of racism within the criminal legal system. |
17. Sing Sing (2024) Follows Divine G, incarcerated at Sing Sing, who finds purpose and hope through a prison theater program. Blending professional actors with real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts alumni, the film explores incarceration, friendship, resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art. |
18. The Last 40 Miles (2014) An animated short film following a condemned prisoner’s final journey from Livingston to Huntsville, Texas, and his interactions with a compassionate prison guard. |
19. Trial by Fire (2018) Dramatizes the true story of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted of setting the fire that killed his three daughters and was executed by Texas in 2004 amid later disputes over the forensic evidence. |
20. Wag the Dog (1997) A political satire in which a political strategist and Hollywood producer manufacture a fictional war to divert public attention from a presidential scandal shortly before an election. The film explores political manipulation, propaganda, media influence, manufactured narratives, and the ability of institutions to shape public opinion. |
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