Main content

Bryan Stevenson

Kirsty Young talks to US lawyer Bryan Stevenson.

Kirsty Young's guest this week is Bryan Stevenson.

An American lawyer, he is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a private, not-for-profit organisation working on death penalty cases, cases of children sentenced as adults, prison and sentencing reform, and issues of race and poverty.

His great grandparents were slaves and he himself went to a segregated school in southern Delaware. Although from a poor African American background he made it to Harvard Law School. Since then he has secured relief for over a hundred prisoners sentenced to death. He has argued in front of the Supreme Court six times and won landmark rulings about the sentencing of children for both homicide and non-homicide offences. His TED talk from March 2012 has been viewed over two million times.

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 13 Mar 2015 09:00
成人论坛 Radio 4 FM

More episodes

Previous

Julia Samuel

Next

Robin Millar

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Clips

See all clips from Bryan Stevenson (2)

Music Played

  • Stevie Wonder

    I Wish

    • Songs in The Key Of Life Vol.1.
    • Tamla Motown.

  • Henry Purcell

    When I am Laid in Earth from Purcell's Dido & Aeneas

    Performer: Leontyne Price.
    • Leontyne Price: The Prima Donna Collection.
    • RCA.

  • The Fairfield Four

    Standing in the Safety Zone

    • Norbit.
    • Bodog.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Missa Solemnis: Sanctus Praeludium

    Performer: Herbert von Karajan. Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • Beethoven: Missa Solemnis.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Miles Davis

    Blue In Green

    • Kind of Blue.
    • Columbia.

  • Donny Hathaway

    For All We Know

    • The Donny Hathaway collection.
    • Atlantic.

  • Art Tatum

    Yesterdays

    • Art Tatum/ Classics 1945-47.
    • Classics 1945-47.

  • CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE

    • Aretha Franklin

      Precious Memories

      • Amazing Grace.
      • Atlantic.

  • BOOK CHOICE

    The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

  • LUXURY ITEM

    A piano

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Bryan Stevenson
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcasts

  • Sun 8 Mar 2015 11:15
    成人论坛 Radio 4
  • Fri 13 Mar 2015 09:00
    成人论坛 Radio 4 FM

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast