US death row study: 4% of defendants sentenced to die are innocent

[vindicatorx]

Couldn't you read the article to determine if their method to determine the number of innocent people sentenced to death is wrong or flawed?

I did that is why I said the previous comment...

[Deleted]

4% is too many, while there is even a shred of a chance an innocent person can be executed, the death sentence is not acceptable IMO.

[RapBreon]

Should be used for the most heinous crimes where it's certain that the perpetrator isn't innocent.

We don't have that ability. And I doubt we'll ever have the ability to 100% ascertain someone's innocence. The entire system revolves around a probability and what twelve (or whatever number) decide what a 'reasonable doubt' is.

Using extreme situations isn't helping your case.

That was satire; illustrating where we draw the line at 'heinous'.

I guess I will weigh in as I am also a former Corrections officer. I find the results of this study to be highly dubious. From my experience not a one of the inmates sentenced for murder ever denied it once they were convicted of it. I don't see how they can statistically come up with this number and feel confident in making this claim.

Not to speak out of turn as I know absolutely next to nothing of what it's like to experience a prison environment. However, is it particularly wise to profess your innocence once you're in? Isn't that just asking to be someone's dick sheathe?

I remember someone eminent said (don't quote me on this); 'that the justice system would rather ten convicted felons to be let free than to innocently convict one wrong person'.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

Same reason why we don't use a guillotine. They need to pretend that it's somehow more humane to kill a person with a lethal injection for their own peace of mind. If you don't see any blood it must be more humane!

Personally I'm against the death penalty for multiple reasons.

I think it has to do with the fact that shooting somebody in the head is a traumatic event and it's not worth fucking up the executioner.

[Bdatik]

I did that is why I said the previous comment...

You read the journal article which should outline how they arrived at 4.1%? If so, why are their statistics BS?

[Instructor Soki]

It's fine just remember that if you live in America, don't be black, poor or innocent and you will be ok.

I've got all that covered. Thanks for the advice

[Lurielle]

That's crazy! I definitely do not support the death penalty (for other reasons originally). But this makes it even more obvious that the death penalty should be abolished! What does it achieve anyway? I PERSONALLY see the death penalty as the easy way out for the convicted. Isn't suffering in jail for the rest of your life worse than dying?

[schwarzkopf]

It's fine just remember that if you live in America, don't be black, poor or innocent and you will be ok.

Remember - in America the right to life ends at birth, after that you have to buy the privilege.

[Deleted]

I think it has to do with the fact that shooting somebody in the head is a traumatic event and it's not worth fucking up the executioner.

I doubt it makes a difference to the person doing the killing. It's like your putting a shotgun to their head blasting their brains all over the walls...

[Manhands]

4% of executed people being innocent is 4% too many people to justify the death penalty.

But what if having the death penalty was a good enough deterrent that we saved just as many lives from murder? You won't find that in a statistic, but people definitely think twice about Murder 1.

[Flutterguy]

How many actually get executed? Some of those guys have been on death row for 20 years.

[Bdatik]

How many actually get executed? Some of those guys have been on death row for 20 years.

Between 1973 and 2004, 138 (1.6%) innocent people were put to death. The study argues that approximately 340 (4.1%) innocent people were put to death during that period; they claim that is also a "conservative number."

[SeanTheOriginal]

Only 4%? I thought it'd be higher than that.

[Flutterguy]

Between 1973 and 2004, 138 (1.6%) innocent people were put to death. The study argues that approximately 340 (4.1%) innocent people were put to death during that period; they claim that is also a "conservative number."

No, I meant how many total executions have actually been done.

Also, as we progress through time here, many of the recent death row inmates were convicted with DNA evidence. Many of the innocents being reported were convicted during a time when there was no DNA evidence either admissible or possible.

I'd also like to know if they can track statistics for how many get away with murder and other high crimes.

[Mormolyce]

I personally never understood why a bullet to the head isn't humane, it's quick and painless. And a bullet only costs a few cents. I agree that the way they used to kill you with having 10 people shoot at you is horrible, but a short distance headshot couldn't possibly hurt.

Three people have been executed by firing squad since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Because they asked for that as the method of execution. All in Utah. Which tried to phase it out because it made them look brutal, essentially.

Blue: never used firing squads. Green: once used firing squads. Yellow: still uses firing squads (as a very rare secondary method).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executi...#United_States

Also:

How exactly does a firing squad work?
It's not like the movies, with a blindfolded victim in front of a line of riflemen. Instead, the convicted killer is strapped to a chair, with a target pinned over his heart. Five law enforcement officers armed with 30-caliber rifles aim at the target from a distance of no less than 25 feet. All shoot at exactly the same time. One of the guns is loaded with blanks, so that none is certain he fired the fatal shot. The convict can choose whether to wear a black hood; Gardner elected to wear one.

Is this more or less humane than other execution methods?
Death by firing squad has been proven to be a quicker fate than lethal injection, which is Utah's default execution method, reports Daniel B Wood in the Christian Science Monitor. A man shot to death in 1938 while hooked up to a cardiogram showed "complete heart death" within one minute of being shot. Even when carried out correctly, lethal injection takes about nine minutes to kill someone.

http://theweek.com/article/index/204...thal-injection

You could argue it's more humane, really I think the reason you don't use firing squad is because it makes you look more barbaric than you already do by having the death penalty at all.

[Shadowmelded]

Remember - in America the right to life ends at birth, after that you have to buy the privilege.

Too much DLC, shit game. What is this, EA?

[Bdatik]

No, I meant how many total executions have actually been done.

Backwards math says somewhere around 8,300 to 8,600 people.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

I doubt it makes a difference to the person doing the killing. It's like your putting a shotgun to their head blasting their brains all over the walls...

Er, what? You don't think people are affected at all by killing another person in a very visible and tangible way? I'm pretty sure even people who administer lethal injections get kinda fucked up.


Personally I'm surprised we haven't come up with a more technical method, like a point-blank pistol attached to a robot controlled by 1 of 10 buttons. The other 9 are dummies and all are identical in weight, size, shape, but the only difference is one emits a signal when pressed that activates the robot.

[Kelxin]

On the flip side, how many guilty people have gone free and roam our streets today without any punishment at all? I'd definitely say more than 4% of those that committed a crime punishable by death.

[Shadowmelded]

On the flip side, how many guilty people have gone free and roam our streets today without any punishment at all? I'd definitely say more than 4% of those that committed a crime punishable by death.

So those innocent people help "even the numbers" ? Is this your argument?