Jaws of Justice Radio investigates how we can achieve justice from a system of laws deeply rooted in economic, social and political inequality. We want to dispel misconceptions created by the news and entertainment industry, politicians and our educational system. We hope you will listen.
Jaws of Justice will play an interview first broadcast on KKFI’s Radio Active Magazine where host Craig Lubow spoke with Kansas Public Defender Kelson Bohnet about the death penalty, focusing primarily but not exclusively on Kansas.
Kelson Bohnet works for the Kansas Public Defender system in their Capital Defense Unit and serves on the Board of the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
Although Kansas currently has the death penalty, it has made less use of it than many other states. Its most recent execution was in 1965, and the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty believes the political leadership of Kansas may be willing to terminate the Death Penalty again.
Kelson Bohnet is from Alabama and earned his law degree from the University of Denver. He worked in the Colorado Public Defender system, then joined the Capital Defender unit in the Virginia Public Defender system before coming to Kansas. He also serves as adjunct faculty for the University of Kansas School of Law.
Bohnet compared Kansas with other states. He said that some government actors in Kansas are pushing the death penalty, but that is still a long way off. Kansas does not have the death penalty as a part of its cultural appetite the way that other States do. Missouri, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma “are what we call the active death penalty States.” Bohnet said that what is happening in Missouri “is just a tragedy beyond words” with their Governor and their Attorney General pushing forward executions like an assembly line regardless of case, circumstance, or situation. Bohnet added, “Kansas is not a state that, like Alabama, is going to suffocate a man to death. Kansas is not a state like Missouri that is rushing innocent people like Marcellus Williams to be executed.”
On Jaws of Justice, we examine how to find justice in our society. Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
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