One of the questions often posed by people who are disturbed at what happens in criminal law is “what can I do”?  Here’s an answer: contribute to the to complete the document, The Penalty.

The Penalty is a 90-minute film that seeks to lift the lid on the human cost of the death penalty. Centered around three executions, the film pulls back the curtain on the people who are touched by capital punishment every day, but who are often far from death row. We follow the tentacles of the death penalty as they wrap their way around lawyers, innocent men, victims’ families and the political landscape.

The producer, Laura Shacham, who last year made a web series profiling death row exonerees, called One For Ten, is about half way through filming The Penalty.  They need money to finish the project.

They had me with the opening shot of my old pal, Kathryn Kase.  One of the aspects of this film that distinguishes it from many of the others on the death penalty is that this isn’t another emotional appeal highlighting the lives of exonerated condemned prisoners.  This  effort goes to the reasons, for all of us, and focuses more on lawyers, including Debby Denno, Jeanne Woodford, David Dow, Peter Neufeld, Richard Dieter and Clive Stafford-Smith, as well as Kathryn.

And, as if the opportunity to do good wasn’t enough, they have some cool stuff for contributors to the kickstarter campaign.  For £100, get a signed copy of Bryan Stevenson’s new book, Just Mercy or Dave Eggers’ Surviving Justice: America’s Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated.  For a measly £5000, you can be the executive producer and cement your role in history.

Without funding, this film can’t happen, so suffer a day without Starbucks and show them some love.