Death Penalty

It is no secret that the older I get, the less and less I like the death penalty. The issue for me is quite simple, are we so sure that the person committed this crime that we are willing to exact the final punishment that once applied has absolutely no recourse?

I can no longer get there. We know that the general public firmly believes that eye witness testimony is fail proof, yet we also know from DNA evidence that eye witness testimony can be wrong and has been on more than one occasion (See: http://agora.stanford.edu/sjls/Issue%20One/fisher&tversky.htm ) for further information.

We also know that 123 individuals (fathers, friends, brothers, neighbors, coworkers) have been not only charged with a crime they did not commit, but were also convicted and were sentenced to death; only to find out afterwards it was a mistake. How do we repay this person for this? Do we accept it as an inevitable consequence of our judicial system? Or do we, as highly intelligent people, try to find a better way of determining the facts before it gets this far?

What we do not know, is how many innocent people have been put to death. Is it one, ten, fifty or perhaps a thousand? We have no way of knowing because once the sentence is carried out, the legal system does not put forth the effort to truly investigate the matter; we also have no client to continue to represent.

It has been said by our forefathers that it is better for ten guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be wrongfully sentenced. That is a profound statement, but unfortunately many no longer view it in personal terms. We for the most part do not know the defendant, his family, etc., and therefore do not care. That is unfortunate because when we begin to view it in those terms, we lose sight of the truth.

As I read on this subject I thought it might benefit some to list (just for the State of Illinois) the men who were convicted and sentenced in ** OUR ** name and were later proven to be innocent:

Perry Cobb - Convicted 1979, Acquitted 1987 (8 years death row)
Darby Tillis - Convicted 1979, Acquitted 1987 (8 years death row)
Rolando Cruz - Convicted 1985, Acquitted 1995 (10 years death row)
Alejandro Hernandez - Convicted 1985, Charges dismissed 1995 (10 years death row)
Joseph Burrows - Convicted 1989, Charges dismissed 1996 ( 7 years death row)
Verneal Jimerson - Convicted 1985, Charges dismissed 1996 (11 years death row)
Dennis Williams - Convicted 1979, Charges dismissed 1996 (17 years death row)
Gary Gauger - Convicted 1993, Charges dismissed 1996 (3 years death row)
Carl Lawson - Convicted 1990, Acquitted 1996 (6 years death row)
Anthony Porter - Convicted 1983, Charges dismissed 1999 (16 years death row)
Steve Smith - Convicted 1985, Acquitted 1999 (14 years death row)
Ronald Jones - Convicted 1989, Charges dismissed 1999 (10 years death row)
Steve Manning - Convicted 1993, Charges dismissed 2000 (7 years death row)
Aaron Patterson - Convicted 1986, Pardoned 2003 (17 years death row)
Madison Hobley - Convicted 1987, Pardoned 2003 (16 years death row)
Leroy Orange - Convicted 1984, Pardoned 2003 (19 years death row)
Stanley Howard - Convicted 1987, Pardoned 2003 (16 years death row)
Gordon Steidl - Convicted 1987, Charges Dismissed 2004 (17 years death row)

That is 18 men wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death, those 18 men served an average of 11.77 years before they were finally released.

I am not sure that I am willing to live with the fact that we came very close to executing these 18 innocent men for crimes they did not commit.

Now that I think about it, I AM SURE that I am NOT willing to live with the fact that we came very close to executing these 18 innocent men for crimes they did not commit.

To Mark L. I know you have said before that you could live with that fact, I only wonder if you could actually tell these 18 men to their face that you believe their sacrifice would have been worth it?