Re: never a day passes (death penalty)

From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Fri Nov 29 2002 - 13:26:58 MST


> (Brett Paatsch <paatschb@ocean.com.au>):
>
> > "Randall Randall" <wolfkin@freedomspace.net> Wrote:
> >
> > > I am against the death penalty, since one can't ever know that
> > > the guilty are guilty with absolute certainty.
>
> There's a couple of things I wonder about the death penalty. Has anyone
> actually compiled any credible stats on the chances of innocents
> getting executed?

Yes, it's frighteningly high, and is the reason many states now
have a moratorium. While I do not oppose the DP in principle, I
certainly believe that the current American justice system is not
nearly qualified--morally or technically--to exercise it. The most
common reasons innocent people are discovered on death row are
bad eyewitness testimony, police corruption (especially things
like fingerprint and ballistics labs), and incompetent defense.

--
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC


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