Death Penalty and False Positives

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The discussion centers on the implications of false positives in the context of the death penalty, specifically examining the probability of wrongful convictions among the 873 individuals executed between 1977 and September 2003. Participants analyze the mathematical probabilities associated with the assumption that a defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, quantified as 0.99. The calculations presented include P(all executed were guilty) as 0.99 raised to the power of 873 and P(at least one innocent) as 1 minus P(all 873 are guilty), leading to a significant concern regarding the potential for wrongful executions.

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Fear_of_Math
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Discussing wheather to convict someone charged with murder and give them the death penalty, consider the variables "reality (defendant guilty, defendant innocent) and "decision" (convict, acquit)

Jurors are asked to convict a defendant if they feel the defendant is "guilty beyond reasonable doubt" Suppose this means given the defendant is executed, the probability that s/he is truly guilty is 0.99. For the 873 people put to death from 1977 until September 2003, find the probability that:

i) they were all truly guilty

ii) at least on of them was actually innocent
 
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Okay, is P(all those executed were actually guilty)= 0.99^873?
P(at least one innocent)= 0.01^873

Anyone who can let me know if I'm on the right track is appreciated =)
 
0.01^873 is the probability that they're all innocent

P(at least one of them is innocent) = 1 - P(all 873 are guilty)
 

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