Is DNA the Key to Proving Innocence on Death Row?

[Art]

Frankly, that link, to me, is another example of how politically biased foreign organizations such as Amnesty International are (yes, I'm referring to the current Koran flap). Ten million people starve to death in North Korea, yet Amnesty Intl is generating headlines by attacking the US.

See link http://aol.countrywatch.com/aol_wire.asp?vCOUNTRY=28&UID=1531817

Seems Amnesty Int'l aren't adverse to generating headlines over N Korea either. In fact I think you will find they record all systematic abuse wherever it takes place.

http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/prk-summary-eng

This link provides their annual report for all countries

 

[Pengwuino]

Well art, someone else already found hte information showing that in fact, if there is any racism apparent in the judicial system when it comes to deaht row, it is against white people.

And isn't Ron Hubbard some crackhead astronomist? (no i don't really know who he is)

And you have also verified my own assumption. You are bringing in race when it has no business in the discussion. That is horribly racist of you

 

[Art]

Well art, someone else already found hte information showing that in fact, if there is any racism apparent in the judicial system when it comes to deaht row, it is against white people.

And isn't Ron Hubbard some crackhead astronomist? (no i don't really know who he is)

And you have also verified my own assumption. You are bringing in race when it has no business in the discussion. That is horribly racist of you

Penqwuino you are really quite funny though I suspect you don't realize it

In the figures cited above, 35% of those executed were black and 57% white. Blacks only make up 12.3% of the population and so from the total of 805 people executed one would expect only 99 of them to be black. Instead there were 278! Please explain by what convoluted logic you arrived at the conclusion the death penalty is predjudiced against white people?

As for the ref to Ron Hubbard; that was a subtle joke - obviously wasted on you.

It's impossible to discuss death row and miscarriages of justice without mentioning blacks as they are the main (not the only) victims of the shortcomings in the justice system.

 

[Pengwuino]

Why would you "expect" only 99 of them to be executed? This is ideological logic, not real world logic. Using that logic, the judicial system is engaged in some sort of reverse-racism when it comes to latinos since 7% were latino yet they make up 13% of the population. Please tell me what logic you are using as its certainly not real world logic. I understand how you must degrade yourself to petty insults. Its fairly common when people are so blatantly losing arguments and when people are utterly blown away by statistics that somehow, magically, as if only by the grace of God, contradict their own ideological viewpoints.

And the fact that you somehow construe race with justice and then throw in the idea that they are not the only ones discriminated against kind of destroys your whole argument. You say one race is explicitly discriminated against and proceed to ignore real world statistics to the contrary. Finally, to maybe make yourself seem less ignorant (and to throw hte subject off of your own assumption), you throw in the "not only blacks" qualifier.

 

[Azimuth]

bottom line...i can argue both ways

it seems as though (no offense to anyone) that the naive humanitarians always vote against the death penalty...while those of us who might be called 'cold' or practical look at the facts...i do live in the US so i am referring to the US death penalty system...
The Facts:
There has never been a PROVED case of anyone innocent ever being executed on death row...many arguments are made about the number of ppl being released form death row is sign for concern, but what they fail to realize is that most of these ppl are released due to technicalities in their case not the actual evidence. Futhermore, the NCADP lists 5 doubt cases, where some of the evidence against them is faulty but the admit they cannot prove it...even taking into acount these alleged "doubt cases" the death penalty still has a 99.6% accuracy rate...

Now agianst the death penalty:
“With great power comes great responsibility" -Winston Churchill
A system that decides whether a person lives or dies needs to be flawless. Since it is not power needs to be taken away from this system. It was mentioned before how a person is "garunteed an appeal" this can be misinterpreted...you see when a person is put on death row these 'appeals' are only to see if a fair trial was given...they review the format of the trial not the actual evidence...once a person is on death row the evidence is buried, and rarely, if ever, is brought up again. The death penalty needs to be aboloshed in America.

There choose the side that serves you best...

 

[loseyourname]

“With great power comes great responsibility" -Winston Churchill

I always thought that quotation was from Spiderman.

Anyway, about the 1 in 6 death row inmates being released. I'm personally against the death penalty, but the above fact does not seem to me to be a good piece of evidence in support of that stance. We can easily interpret this to mean that all of the innocent people on death row are being released and not executed, in which case the system is working perfectly fine.

 

[vanesch]

In the figures cited above, 35% of those executed were black and 57% white.

I thought the death penalty in the US didn't apply to white people ?

(ok, this is a particularly nasty joke of bad taste, I agree)

More seriously now, I think the problem with the death penalty is not only its irreversibility (which, in the case of innocents, no matter how few, is dramatic). There are other reasons to be against it too. One of the reasons is the arbitrariness in which it is assigned. Even if all those on death row are guilty and "deserve to die" didn't quite a lot, with better lawyers, get away with life sentence, for equally horrible crimes ?
Another reason against the death penalty is that it means that certain criminals cannot be heard again for OTHER crimes. I've seen cases here in Europe where serial killers (who got caught long ago and did life sentence) suddenly resolved unexplained cases that were 15 years old or so.
That said, I can understand an exceptional application of the death penalty to particularly nasty criminals. But it should remain a very rare exception.

 

[BobG]

bottom line...i can argue both ways
Now agianst the death penalty:
“With great power comes great responsibility" -Winston Churchill
A system that decides whether a person lives or dies needs to be flawless. Since it is not power needs to be taken away from this system. It was mentioned before how a person is "garunteed an appeal" this can be misinterpreted...you see when a person is put on death row these 'appeals' are only to see if a fair trial was given...they review the format of the trial not the actual evidence...once a person is on death row the evidence is buried, and rarely, if ever, is brought up again. The death penalty needs to be aboloshed in America.

I like this argument. It almost sounds as if Winston Churchill, a person perceived as a great leader, is against the death penalty.

It also implies that the death penalty would be okay if the process were flawless. It implies that it should be banned because it hasn't met the same high standards as other systems involving life or death decisions. Of course, it ignores the fact that there is no such thing as a flawless human system. If imposition of the death penalty is held to the same standards as other human systems involving life and death decisions (when to remove life support, war, abortion, etc), the fact that mistakes will be made is just an accepted cost. In fact, it is - which is why appeals only review to ensure the defendant had a fair and adequate opportunity to present his side to the jury. Some trust has to be put into humans' ability to make decisions, even knowing those decisions will sometimes be wrong.

 

[chound]

How does DNA help in finding whether a person is innocent?