...or were they just innocent of the crime they were put to death for? (by this i mean had they been charged with other crimes that are around as severe as murder)
Sorry if this question isn't very clear i just couldn't find the answer myself when i searched for it.
2007-02-01 17:41:25 · 5 answers · asked by Ben R 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
Yes. There was Randall Adams, the man in the documentary "The Thin Blue Line," convincted of killing a police officer largely because the police had to arrest *someone* and put on death row, then later found innocent. I saw him interviewed some ten years later, and he had an interesting take on capital punishment. He said that if you can stand the fact that *some* innocent people will die, then be for capital punishment--but know that sometimes innocents *are* executed. If you think that's too high a price to pay, then stand against it.
2007-02-01 17:48:06 · answer #1 · answered by Vaughn 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The person accused is judged guilty...sentenced to death,then is always allowed an appeal of that decision . Depending on the state you are living in there are different rules.......In the state I live in the Death Penalty Division takes over to assist in the commuting of the death sentence to life instead.......
There are other circumstances like the one you are talking about where the defendant can appeal his sentence to a higher court to show the defendant is innocent , if that happens the appeals court may grant a new trial where the defense team brings the new evidence , is given a new jury who typically doesn't know about the first trial and usually is granted a change of venue to start the process again......
2007-02-01 17:59:41 · answer #2 · answered by cesare214 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sorry I don't believe in the death penalty I think it is not our call unless it is war? Instinctively if your child is being molested you may kill out of impulse? But this is a touchy subject. We do not know the truth about those people on death row without the DNA testing and they all should be tested every single one or our society will be not better than any fascist, communist, socialist tyranical country. so we must curtail that problem or fast. Your question does it for me? Because what you are asking is it okay to kill someone if he steals a couple of times? And that they add that up to murder? No way , ever. No thief , goes to the death row?
Why that is not a murderer, and most of those murderers should sit in a cell the rest of their life. Sorry but I disagree.
2007-02-01 17:52:32 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
While there are cases of people initially being convicted of a crime, then later exonerated (usually because of DNA evidence), there has been no evidence to show that anyone who has already been executed was actually innocent. With new advances in DNA processing this may change - there are many whose lives were ruined by spending years in prison for a crime they did not commit, but so far the studies have shown that no innocent people have ever been executed.
2007-02-01 17:49:27 · answer #4 · answered by JZ 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
There have been no exonerations for any executed criminal in the modern death penalty period, 1976 till now.
The total number of inmates on death row to be exonerated by DNA or other evidence is less than 2%, so if we extrapolate that and assume they weren't noticed then it is possible that as many as 20 inmates were executed wrongly but it is not proven.
2007-02-01 17:55:20 · answer #5 · answered by Malikail 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋