(04-05-2019, 01:12 AM)americus 2.0 Wrote:

(04-02-2019, 10:27 AM)B2hibry Wrote: I think they should suffer. Bring back the ropes and the public square. This isn't 50 years ago when appeals could bring to light misidentification or mistakes in sentencing. If you are on death row today, there is a pretty good chance you deserve to die. But, because the prison system has gone the way of contracts, more warm bodies means more money. The system continues to line pockets.

For the most part yes but- since 1973, 144 people on death row have been exonerated. As a percentage of all death sentences, that's just 1.6 percent. But if the innocence rate is 4.1 percent, more than twice the rate of exoneration, the study suggests what most people assumed but dreaded: An untold number of innocent people have been executed. Further, the majority of those wrongfully sentenced to death are likely to languish in prison and never be freed. 

I'm not okay with innocent people being executed. Wrongful conviction rates are higher than we would think.

I’m in agreement. It’s my belief that the death penalty should be meted out only in cases where there is direct, irrefutable physical evidence linking the charged to the crime. Many of the wrongful conviction cases are rooted in racism, or some other extreme bias, along with corrupt police and prosecutors. The evidential standards for death sentencing should be very narrow and very high.

With that said, I wonder how many death sentences would be deemed false in this day with the advent of DNA determination and the proliferation of video and technology. My guess is not by nearly the amount of just 20 years ago.

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