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

[diddle]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...dants-innocent

"Deliberately conservative figure lays bare extent of possible miscarriages of justice suggesting that the innocence of more than 200 prisoners still in the system may never be recognised. At least 4.1% of all defendants sentenced to death in the US in the modern era are innocent, according to the first major study to attempt to calculate how often states get it wrong in their wielding of the ultimate punishment."

What do you guys make of this? Is it worth killing the innocent that fall through the cracks to kill the true criminals? Even without the death penalty, they still would have been falsely convicted and given life in prison but at least in that situation they have a chance to eventually be freed and given a settlement.

I personally would be for the death penalty if the U.S. judicial system wasn't a joke - unreliable verdicts and the death penalty ends up costing more than life in prison anyway due to all of the legal proceedings and bureaucracy. 4% is a ghastly amount of injustice. I was never really ever for or against the death penalty, but in light of this it is definitely now the latter.

Edit: Link to the actual study, http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/04/23/1306417111

[Aeluron Lightsong]

The 4% innocent is just sad.

[araine]

yet another very strong evidence that we need to abolish the death penalty for all crimes

[artemishunter1]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...dants-innocent


"Deliberately conservative figure lays bare extent of possible miscarriages of justice suggesting that the innocence of more than 200 prisoners still in the system may never be recognised. At least 4.1% of all defendants sentenced to death in the US in the modern era are innocent, according to the first major study to attempt to calculate how often states get it wrong in their wielding of the ultimate punishment."

What do you guys make of this? Is it worth killing the innocent that fall through the cracks to kill the true criminals? Even without the death penalty, they still would have been falsely convicted and given life in prison but at least in that situation they have a chance to eventually be freed and given a settlement.

I personally would be for the death penalty if the U.S. judicial system wasn't a joke - unreliable verdicts and the death penalty ends up costing more than life in prison anyway due to all of the legal proceedings and bureaucracy.

4 percent is really really really really really low number for one. Second, the tools that are used to free inocent people from jails i.e. DNA, forensic science are valid when freeing someone, then why are not they valid when convicting someone?

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yet another very strong evidence that we need to abolish the death penalty for all crimes

Tell me something, the connecticutt home invasion people, were they innocent, were there any chance for them to be innocent? When you have such clear cut case, why not death penalty then. Unless, you can convince people they were alternate clones from another reality, you really won't have a case.

[Masark]

4 percent is really really really really really low number for one. Second, the tools that are used to free inocent people from jails i.e. DNA, forensic science are valid when freeing someone, then why are not they valid when convicting someone?

Really low? It's basically "Roll a D20 for verdict. Better hope you don't get a critical failure".

[diddle]

4 percent is really really really really really low number for one. Second, the tools that are used to free inocent people from jails i.e. DNA, forensic science are valid when freeing someone, then why are not they valid when convicting someone?

Not sure what you are getting at with the latter part, but 1 in 25 people being innocent on death row is a disgustingly high margin of error.

[LilSaihah]

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

[Deleted]

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

[Aeluron Lightsong]

One innocent person getting killed, IS ONE PERSON TOO MANY.

[Sunseeker]

Statistics for one thing are only so good as long as you know who made them.

I don't personally find ~4% to be as horrendous as some others, but then, I don't subscribe to the idea that justice must be perfect (which it can't be because humans aren't) or the philosophy that it is better to let bad people go free if it saves even one innocent life.

Keep in mind too, this is not how many people are mis-convicted in current trials. This is how many people have been misconvicted over the last 40 years.

[Bdatik]

4 percent is really really really really really low number for one. Second, the tools that are used to free inocent people from jails i.e. DNA, forensic science are valid when freeing someone, then why are not they valid when convicting someone?

1 in 25 people being put to death for crimes they didn't commit is low?

[artemishunter1]

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

Why do you think that? won't 4 percent be 4 people in every 100? Besides, we have far better tools than we used to have. DNA for example, have been used to clear defendents. Then, why is it valid when it is used to convict someone?

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One innocent person getting killed, IS ONE PERSON TOO MANY.

That is bullshit. Do you care about people in China who are used to create cheap goods, many who are falsely imprisoned to provide labor?

[ButterDunker]

That's a risk I'm willing to take. As a former correctional officer whose worked with Death Row offenders, none of them are worth keeping alive. Scum of the earth, all of them.

[Deleted]

That is bullshit. Do you care about people in China who are used to create cheap goods, many who are falsely imprisoned to provide labor?

Why go to China when it goes on in the US of A?

A laughable justice system.

[diddle]

That's a risk I'm willing to take. As a former correctional officer whose worked with Death Row offenders, none of them are worth keeping alive. Scum of the earth, all of them.

Well as a former correctional officer I hope you realize that 1 out of every 25 death row inmates you dealt with were innocent.

[napalm007]

That's a risk I'm willing to take. As a former correctional officer whose worked with Death Row offenders, none of them are worth keeping alive. Scum of the earth, all of them.

If by all you mean 96% of them.

[Masark]

Besides, we have far better tools than we used to have.

Sure, and we have better ways of fucking up with those tools too.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/artic...me-1149846.php
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/cr...ong-man-prison
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_Heilbronn

[ButterDunker]

Innocent for their crimes outside of the fences, sure. Doesn't mean they aren't awful people inside. All trash. Hang 'em all

[Sunseeker]

Why go to China when it goes on in the US of A?

If only. Our prisoners are laughably unproductive.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Innocent for their crimes outside of the fences, sure. Doesn't mean they aren't awful people inside. All trash. Hang 'em all

That's disgusting.