Race to Execution
a Lioness Media Arts Production
Directed and produced by Rachel V. Lyon

"Race to Execution" is a gripping documentary that offers a compelling investigation of America’s death penalty, probing how race discrimination infects our capital punishment system. The film neither advocates nor repudiates the death penalty; instead, it enlarges the conversation regarding capital punishment, focusing attention on race-of-jury as well as race-of-victim.

Research reveals that our justice system is far worse than arbitrary and capricious; it has deteriorated significantly in the last twenty years. Highlighted is a well-documented indicator of this trend - the higher value placed on the lives of white victims. Once a victim’s body is discovered, the race of the victim and the accused deeply influence the legal process: from how a crime scene is investigated, to the deployment of police resources, to the interrogation and arrest of major suspects, to how media portrays the crime, and, ultimately, jury selection and sentencing.

The film traces the fates of two death row inmates: Robert Tarver in Russell County, Alabama, and Madison Hobley in Chicago. Their compelling personal stories are enlarged and enriched by attorneys who fought for these men’s lives, and by prosecutors, criminal justice scholars, and experts in the fields of law and the media. These varied voices contribute to a thoughtful examination of the factors that influence who lives and who dies at the hands of the state. While recent death penalty documentaries have focused on innocence and the wrongfully accused, "Race to Execution" tackles a more difficult, more complex issue: the prevalence and influence of racial bias in capital punishment cases.

African Diaspora Film Festival, 2006

54 min. Video or DVD. Sale $195. Video rental $75.