Court TV Premieres Punishment: Cruel and Unusual On November 14 At 10:00 P.M. ET/PT.Entertainment Editors NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Oct. 29, 2001 From the moment Adam and Eve Adam and Eve In the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, the parents of the human race. Genesis gives two versions of their creation. In the first, God creates “male and female in his own image” on the sixth day. were banished from the Garden of Eden Garden of Eden n. See Eden. Noun 1. Garden of Eden - a beautiful garden where Adam and Eve were placed at the Creation; when they disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil they were , mankind has struggled with the notion of punishment. On November 14 at 10:00 P.M. ET/PT, Court TV takes viewers on a fascinating journey through the violent and often misguided history of whom we punish and why in a premiere one-hour special presentation, Punishment: Cruel and Unusual. From Salem, Massachusetts, where 24 alleged witches were burned at the stake, to Starke, Florida, the home of the state's infamous electric chair, known as "Old Sparky Old Sparky A generic, ghoulishly facetious name for any electric chair used in capital punishment. See Capital punishment. Cf Hangman's fracture. ," Punishment: Cruel and Unusual illustrates how punishment has evolved from a humiliating, public spectacle, designed to influence the masses, to our current system of private, isolated incarceration Confinement in a jail or prison; imprisonment. Police officers and other law enforcement officers are authorized by federal, state, and local lawmakers to arrest and confine persons suspected of crimes. The judicial system is authorized to confine persons convicted of crimes. . Punishment: Cruel and Unusual goes inside the room where Timothy McVeigh was executed, takes a guided tour through the ruins of Eastern State Penitentiary The Eastern State Penitentiary is a former state prison in the United States. It is located on Fairmount Avenue between 21st and 22nd Streets in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 5 blocks north of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. - one of America's first - and explores the grim facts behind being stretched on The Rack, locked in a Pillory PILLORY, punishment. wooden machine in which the neck of the culprit is inserted. 2. This punishment has been superseded by the adoption of the penitentiary system in most of the states. Vide 1 Chit. Cr. Law, 797. and Hung, Drawn and Quartered. An eclectic assortment of experts help shape the special including: Mother John Baptist, a British Nun and expert on London's infamous Tyburn Fields; Stanford author and professor Lawrence Friedman; former Tower of London Tower of London, ancient fortress in London, England, just east of the City and on the north bank of the Thames, covering about 13 acres (5.3 hectares). Now used mainly as a museum, it was a royal residence in the Middle Ages. guard Geoffrey Abbott; and Karen Farrington, author of "The History of Punishment and Torture." One of the many revelations featured in the documentary is why the right hand is held up when taking an oath in court. The act dates back to the Middle Ages in England when branding was a common form of punishment. A letter corresponding to the crime would be seared sear 1 v. seared, sear·ing, sears v.tr. 1. To char, scorch, or burn the surface of with or as if with a hot instrument. See Synonyms at burn1. 2. with a branding iron on the right thumb of a sinner. Thus, anytime someone was being judged, he or she was asked to raise their right hand to show either that they had or had not been convicted of a previous crime. The special also reveals the sometimes ill-conceived efforts towards more humane forms of capital punishment, including the guillotine and the introduction of the electric chair in 1890, as well as the current debate over lethal injection. A common theme emerges while exploring the death penalty - every form of punishment one generation labels humane, the next labels barbaric. Punishment: Cruel and Unusual is a World of Wonder production for Court TV. Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato are the executive producers. David Schiff wrote and produced the special. For Court TV, Bonnie Dry is the executive producer; Ed Hersh is vice president, documentaries and specials. Court TV (www.courttv.com or AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Keyword: Court TV), a basic cable network, provides a window on the American system of justice through distinctive programming that both entertains and informs. As the destination for programming that focuses on justice and criminal investigations, Court TV broadcasts trials by day and compelling stories of the criminal justice system in the evening. Court TV is 50% owned by AOL Time Warner, and 50% owned by Liberty Media Corp. The network has 65 million subscribers. |
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