The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church occurred on Sept. 15, 1963, but it took decades to put the perpetrators on trial. Why did it take so long?

Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church — The Case for Justice, a special documentary produced by Public Radio WBHM 90.3 FM, offers some answers. Greg Bass talks with former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley and former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, the prosecutors whose determination to solve this case eventually brought the guilty to justice. Also interviewed are 16th Street Baptist Church bombing survivor Barbara Cross, Barnett Wright, author of 1963: How the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement Changed America and the World, and long-time Birmingham police officer T. K. Thorne, author of Last Chance for Justice, a book about the investigation.

Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church – The Case for Justice contains strong language that some listeners might find offensive.