Death penalty movies and TV shows
The list contains the best, new and most relevant death penalty movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out serious, realistic, suspense, suspenseful, psychological and interesting films and TV shows about / with death penalty, death sentence, prison, murder, death row, lawyer, court, courtroom, death and execution plots mostly in Drama, Crime and Thriller genres shot in USA, UK, Germany and other countries.
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TOP 10 movies tagged as death penalty: The Life of David Gale (2003), Just Mercy (2019), Trial by Fire (2018), Last Dance (1996), The Lazarus Project (2008), The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008), Monster's Ball (2001), Apprentice (2016), True Crime (1999), The Hurricane (1999).
Best films
New films
| Josie (2018) | 5.2 | |
| There Is No Evil (2020) | 7.5 | |
| The Green Deal (2024) | 6.2 | |
| Alive (2019) | 6.3 | |
| A Hidden Life (2019) | 7.4 |
List of death penalty movies
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Germany, USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story:
A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.
Style:
surprise ending, suspense, thought provoking, twist ending, disturbing ...
Plot:
death penalty, suicide, death, death row, death sentence, fighting the system, murder, professor, reporter, activist, investigation, journalism ...
Time:
year 2003, 2000s, 20th century, 90s, year 1994 ...
Place:
texas, austin texas, houston texas, usa, new york ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min.
Story:
The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights ...
Style:
tense, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, touching ...
Audience:
family friendly
Plot:
courtroom, death penalty, injustice, lawyer, false accusation of murder, defense attorney, perjury, african american, murder, prison, innocence, convict ...
Time:
year 1987, 2010s, 80s, year 2019, year 1993 ...
Place:
alabama
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story:
The tragic and controversial story of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in Texas for killing his three children after scientific evidence and expert testimony that bolstered his claims of innocence were suppressed.
Style:
depressing, realistic, emotional, factual, compassionate ...
Plot:
court, death penalty, lawyer, trial, justice, death sentence, arson, true crime, fighting the system, false accusation, hopes, prison ...
Place:
texas
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
Upon taking a new job, young lawyer Rick Hayes is assigned to the clemency case of Cindy Liggett, a woman convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. As Hayes investigates the background for her case, the two begin to form a deep ...
Style:
emotional, talky, intense, tense, serious ...
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
death penalty, prison, death row, lethal injection, lawyer, dedicated lawyer, death sentence, justice, love story, courtroom drama, prison life, life is a bitch ...
Time:
90s
Place:
india, taj mahal, california, australia, texas ...
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, UK
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
After Ben Garvey foolishly turned back to crime, he thought his life was over when he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. But his death sentence isn't quite what it seems, as Ben regains consciousness near an eerie psychiatric ward, ...
Style:
suspenseful, scary, serious, psychological, tense ...
Plot:
death penalty, lethal injection, mental institution, death sentence, chainsaw, uncover truth, crime gone awry, rehabilitation, psychiatrist, desperation, husband wife relationship, robbery ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
oregon, usa, dallas texas, texas
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
A drama set in 1986 Iran and centered on a man, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village and enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya, whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant had a ...
Style:
realistic, emotional, sad, sexy, serious ...
Plot:
injustice, death penalty, discrimination, sadism, loss of family member, conspiracy, abusive husband, destructive relationship, religion, hijab, islam, corruption ...
Time:
year 2008, 80s, 20th century
Place:
iran, middle east, persia, israel
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
Set in the southern USA, a racist white man, Hank, falls in love with a black woman named Leticia. Ironically, Hank is a prison guard working on Death Row who executed Leticia's husband. Hank and Leticia's inter-racial affair leads to ...
Style:
sexy, depressing, realistic, erotic, compassionate ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
racism, sex scene, interracial romance, electric chair, death penalty, prison, interracial sex, prison guard, dysfunctional family, death row, sex, interracial relations ...
Time:
year 2001, 21st century
Place:
usa, louisiana, southern usa, georgia
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Singapore, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Qatar
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Aiman is a 28-year-old Malay correctional officer who is recently transferred to the territory’s top prison. Aiman lives with his older sister Suhaila in a modest housing estate. At his new workplace, Aiman begins to take an interest in a ...
Style:
hood
Plot:
prison, death penalty, secret, mentor, haunted by the past, ex soldier, car accident, death sentence, death row, prison warden, chaos, gadget ...
Place:
singapore
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story:
Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row prisoner is slated to die at midnight – a man Everett has suddenly realized is innocent.
Style:
psychological, suspense, serious, mysterious, tense ...
Plot:
death row, death penalty, journalism, death sentence, death, lawyer, false accusation, uncover truth, journal, reporter, conspiracy, cupid ...
Time:
year 1999, 90s, 20th century
Place:
california, usa, oakland california, san francisco
Is relevant?
107K
Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 146 min.
Story:
The story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
Style:
touching, inspirational, factual, thought provoking, sociological ...
Plot:
boxing, prison, prison life, racism, courtroom, legal, injustice, death penalty, african american, discrimination, justice, lawyer ...
Time:
80s, 20th century, 60s, 70s, 1940s ...
Place:
new jersey, africa, canada, toronto ontario canada
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
Style:
psychological, suspense, bleak, suspenseful, rough ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
serial killer, violence, maniac, serial murder, death penalty, serial killer as protagonist, killer as protagonist, ted bundy, police investigation, murder, prison, sociopathy ...
Time:
70s, year 1989, year 2019, 80s, year 1976 ...
Place:
usa, seattle, cincinnati ohio
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
An abused 15 year old is charged with a murder that carries the death penalty in this fact-based story.
Style:
emotional, sad, neo noir, teen, cult classic ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
death row, death penalty, teenage prostitute, murder, revenge, attorney, teenage prostitution, lawyer, teenager, teenage girl, prison, death sentence ...
Time:
80s
Place:
oklahoma
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
In occupied France during the WWII, a German officer is murdered. The collaborationist Vichy government decides to pin the murder on six petty criminals. Loyal judges are called in to convict them as quickly as possible.
Style:
political, suspense, political drama
Plot:
courtroom, politics, lawyer, death penalty, trial, guillotine, train, french politics, law, assassination, murder, world war two ...
Time:
1940s, year 1941, year 1975
Place:
paris france, france
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
In a senseless act of hatred, openly gay college student Matthew Shepard was murdered in 1998. This critically-acclaimed, moving film recounts the final days of Matthew's killers' trial—and the weeks leading to Matthew's ...
Style:
disturbing, realistic, serious, weeping, detective ...
Plot:
gay slur, gay, lgbtq, lgbt, death penalty, gay lead character, gays and lesbians, gay interest, murder, courtroom drama, social decay, life is a bitch ...
Time:
year 1998, 21st century
Place:
wyoming, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: South Africa, USA, Germany
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
A lawyer takes on a case of a prison guard in South Africa who is traumatized by the executions he's witnessed.
Style:
captivating, suspenseful, disturbing, suspense, rough ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
death penalty, courtroom, death sentence, life & death, society, culture clash, lifestyle, executioner, investigation, brutality, justice, life is a bitch ...
Place:
south africa, africa
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 189 min.
Story:
A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cellblock's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, ...
Style:
touching, emotional, heartbreaking, sentimental, sad ...
Audience:
family friendly, date night, chick flick, girls' night, adult
Plot:
death penalty, prison, stephen king, death row, death sentence, convict, supernatural, false accusation, prison life, life philosophy, electric chair, execution ...
Time:
1930s, year 1999, 20th century, 90s, year 1935
Place:
southern usa, usa, louisiana, america, persia
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Following in his father's footsteps, Albert Pierrepoint becomes one of Britain's most prolific executioners, hiding his identity as a grocery deliveryman. But when his ambition to be the best inadvertently exposes his gruesome secret, he ...
Style:
serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, depressing ...
Plot:
death sentence, executioner, hanging, politics, execution, introspection, punishment, death row, death penalty, criminal, war crime, biopic ...
Time:
year 2005, 1940s, 1950s, 50s, 21st century
Place:
england, europe, london, germany
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Spain, UK
Duration: 134 min.
Story:
The story of Salvador Puig Antich, one of the last political prisoners to be executed under Franco's Fascist State in 1974.
Style:
thought provoking, disturbing, rough, suspenseful, realistic ...
Plot:
dictatorship, anarchist, politics, death penalty, against humanity, legal, legal investigation, rebellion, missing person, demonstration, state affairs, journalism ...
Time:
70s, 20th century, year 1974
Place:
barcelona, spain, iberian peninsula, europe
Is relevant?
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Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
Style:
twist ending, suspense, psychological, surprise ending, tense ...
Audience:
manly, adult
Plot:
vengeance, vigilantism, justice, prison, vigilante, revenge, master criminal, lawyer, retribution, fighting the system, twists and turns, murder ...
Time:
year 2009, 21st century
Place:
philadelphia, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
Hardened criminal Maggie Hayward's consistent violence, even in police custody, ends in the execution chamber. However, top-secret US government agent 'Bob' arranges a staged death, so Maggie can be elaborately trained as a phantom ...
Style:
exciting, suspense, intense, suspenseful, serious ...
Audience:
boys' night, girls' night, teens
Plot:
hitman, female assassin, female spy, killer, female killer, female warrior, espionage, female martial artist, tough girl, murder, contract killer, death penalty ...
Time:
future, 90s
Place:
washington d.c., new orleans, california, europe, venice ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
Disgusted with criminals escaping the judicial system via technicalities, an idealistic young judge investigates an alternative method for punishing the guilty.
Style:
exciting, intense, suspense, serious, retro ...
Plot:
vigilante, vigilantism, conspiracy, judge, murder, political corruption, legal, vengeance, secret society, justice, lawyer, assassin ...
Time:
80s, year 1983, 20th century
Place:
los angeles, california
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story:
People are busy watching the screen. The person wearing a mysterious mask so called 'Gaetal' appears, and the Killing Vote begins.
Style:
captivating, psychological
Plot:
vigilante, death penalty, masked vigilante, voting, death sentence, social justice, criminal justice, investigation, murder, serial killer, murder investigation, killing ...
Place:
korea
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story:
A justice drama based on a true story about a man on death row who in his last days forms a strong relationship with a nun who teaches him forgiveness and gives him spirituality as she accompanies him to his execution.
Style:
thought provoking, touching, emotional, sad, depressing ...
Plot:
death row, prison, rape, death sentence, nun, death penalty, violence, prison life, court, murder, redemption, catholic ...
Time:
20th century, year 1995, 90s
Place:
louisiana, new orleans, united kingdom, southern usa
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
The daughter of a man on death row falls in love with a woman on the opposing side of her family's political cause.
Style:
romantic drama, sad, serious, psychological, deep ...
Plot:
lgbt, lesbian, lesbian relationship, lesbian love, lesbian sex, lesbian teen, death penalty, sister sister relationship, death row, lgbtq, sapphic, lesbianism ...
Place:
usa, indiana
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Mina's life is turned upside down when she learns that her husband was innocent of the crime for which he was executed, so she starts a silent battle against a cynical system for her own and her daughter's sake.
Style:
independent film
Plot:
false accusation, judge, mother daughter relationship, deaf, death penalty, prison, female protagonist, widow, death of husband, loss of husband, single mother, sign language ...
Place:
iran, middle east
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
Police detective Joe Leland investigates the murder of a homosexual man. While investigating, he discovers links to official corruption in New York City in this drama that delves into a world of sex and drugs.
Style:
neo noir, retro, psychological, twisted, crime drama ...
Plot:
police detective, murder investigation, death penalty, murder, cop, cheating wife, homosexuality, notebook, promotion, wrongful conviction, trespassing, corruption ...
Time:
20th century, 60s
Place:
manhattan new york city, new york, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Chile
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Based on an actual event that occurred in the southern region of Chillán in 1960, tells the story of an illiterate peasant who, while drunk, murdered the woman with whom he had relationships and her five daughters
Style:
cult classic, road movie
Plot:
unemployment, illiteracy, police arrest, death penalty, jail, drunkenness, brutality, prison, confession, killing, rural setting, tramp ...
Time:
1950s, 60s, 50s
Place:
chile, south america
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 149 min.
Story:
A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
Style:
thought provoking, sincere, tense, sexy, realistic ...
Audience:
date night, girls' night
Plot:
racism, courtroom drama, court, justice, trial, courtroom, small town, lawyer, rape, revenge, murder, legal ...
Time:
90s, 20th century
Place:
mississippi, usa, southern usa, america, canada
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to ...
Style:
psychological, disturbing, rough, bleak, compassionate ...
Plot:
death row, lethal injection, prison, death sentence, prison warden, black american, black, retirement, lawyer, teacher, protest, african american ...
Time:
2010s
Place:
usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story:
An American attorney on business in China, ends up wrongfully on trial for murder and his only key to innocence is a female defense lawyer from the country.
Style:
suspense, suspenseful, political, thought provoking, intense ...
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
courtroom drama, courtroom, death penalty, frame up, justice, political corruption, murder mystery, lawyer, male victim, court, conspiracy theory, false accusation ...
Time:
year 1997, 90s
Place:
china, asia, california
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
