(04-05-2019, 07:22 AM)homebiscuit Wrote:

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

I agree with this too.
Some days I want to say, we should only execute people who admit that they did it.  People who claim they weren't even at the crime scene should only face life in prison.  I know that's backwards from how plea bargains work, and I know there would be a lot of muddy cases in between, but I do think we are not scared enough of the possibility of executing the wrong person based on simple mistaken identity from an eyewitness.

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