Re:What I Learned from Executing Two Men
by lawpoop on Monday September 19, 2016 @08:25AM
(#12530817)
That's a critique of the current state of our legal system, not whether the death penalty is just in the case of a wrongly convicted innocent person.
Re:What I Learned from Executing Two Men
by bpodgursky on Monday September 19, 2016 @08:42AM
(#12530933)
Let me know when you've created an ideal criminal legal justice system.
Fix the problems with wrongful conviction, lack of appeals, etc etc, and we can come back and abolish capital punishment.
But right now, it's naiive to advocate for abolishing capital punishment, because in the absence of other reforms, it simply makes the current system worse.
Re:What I Learned from Executing Two Men
by Jtsummers on Monday September 19, 2016 @09:58AM
(#12531477)
I'm confused. How does abolishing capital punishment make a system that we know has executed innocent people worse?
Halt capital punishment to prevent further, irreversible, errors. AND work on other reforms (better trial lawyers, more equitable appeals process, etc.). Then you can bring back capital punishment once we have a greater degree of confidence in the system.
Re:What I Learned from Executing Two Men
by lawpoop on Monday September 19, 2016 @12:51PM
(#12532792)
I don't claim to be able to make an ideal criminal legal justice system. But I do think we can make improvements, this being one of them.
Why do you think the rest of the first world has outlawed capital punishment?
If those people hadn't been on death row, they'd still be rotting in prison.
If you give people the option of throwing someone in prison and forgetting about them, or forcing them to actually decide on their guilt, they will always choose the former.
If I was wrongly convicted, I would much, much, much rather be on death row than in for life-without-parole.