In your opinion , how many innocent people have been put to death in the US?

Question

Juries are misled, evidence is tampered with, witnesses are threatened...all in the name of politics and the pursuit of power:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=45&did=292

If one innocent person is executed (and they have been), it is beyond tragic; beyond tragic enough to make sure it never happens again.

Mesquite...
But in the OT, it was the audible voice of God that told the Israelites to put people to death, not a corrupt judicial system.

Guess we're finking out who thinks in terms of individuals, and who thinks in terms of the broader, so-called, "greater good".

I hope it's not your brother or sister, or mother or father, who is the one unjustly accused.

Did any of you read the link? There are actual cases there.

Answer 1

I disagree with the premise stated in the opening line of the article you referenced...the reason for my objection is in the rest of the first paragraph! In the first paragraph, the author argues that the problem of executing the innocent was getting worse. Then he mentioned that "many of the cases" of people that were being RELEASED from death row in the past 15 years or so were a result of "new technology"! Fifty years ago, all of those people would have been executed...how does that support the idea that the problem is getting worse??? Sure sounds like technology is reducing the number of people that are being wrongly executed in the 21st century!

I do agree that it is tragic, even beyond tragic, when an innocent person is executed. However, I think we are doing a LOT more today than we did just 50 years ago to prevent it from happening. Just 150 years ago, a person went from the trial straight to the gallows...now they are held on death row for at least a while until their appeals are exhausted.

...and what do you say to the family of people that are killed by escaped or paroled criminals that were imprisioned for murder? What about those innocent people?

I'm not sure where I stand on the death penalty, but the article you referenced was clearly biased and tried to make it sound like the problem of executing innocent people is getting worse. Yes, 69 innocent (or presumed innocent) people were released from death row in the last 35 years...but how many were released prior to that time? I see the fact that they are using new technology to prove peoples' innocence as a positive sign...a sign that we are less likely to make this mistake than we were in the past.

Answer 2

Before say the 60's I would say it happened more. Early US justice wasnt always that reliable.

Today, how the justice system is now and the attitude of the country. Maybe at most 1 percent of death row inmates.

No legal system is going to be 100 percent failsafe.
If you understand anything about the actual legal system, and not just what you see on tv, it is actually pretty hard to get convictions of innocent people. Yes it happens, but those few times it happens are featured in the news so people lose perspective of how rarely it happens. Majority of cases get plead out. The rest are usually people trying to get away with the crime thinking they can manipulate a jury and many times they manage to manipulate the jury.
The DA has to have the evidence to bring the case to trial. Despite what some people like to say, most DA's do just want justice. They also dont want to bring a case to court that they think they will lose.

There are very very few actual executions in the US every year. Most times when an inmates death penalty judgement is thrown out it is because of technicalities in the trial and has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that he was not guilty.

Answer 3

Well,

1) yes,it is beyond tragic, even if the person was in death row for 20 years then released because of new evidence its still tragic because this person just spent 20 yrs of his/her life locked up for someone he did not kill.

2) While I dont agree with the death penalty for the very reasons that you have just stated above plus the fact that inmates in death row spend on average 10 years in there spending ( I think )$100,000 in appeals alone all on the taxpayers dime, which I think could be put to better use in the penal system.

I feel hopefull thought that one day, hopefully not too far away, the death penalty will be banned.

Answer 4

You are right, but this is a different issue though... My only objection about Death Penalty is exactly the fact innocent people might die and that's why I think this should solely be applied when the criminal had confessed or if the jury had substantial proof... I know that is not reality and that is the only thing that makes me ponder about it... I am a mother and it would be terrible to have one of my kids executed by a misled jury... May God have mercy on us!!

Peace!

Answer 5

I am a Christian. I believe I should take the Bible as my authority where it speaks. The Bible DOES NOT condemn the death penalty. In fact, under the Old Testament during the age when the 10 Commandments were in force, it was commanded to put certain people to death. The Bible is true or it is not true. I believe it is true, therefore I believe the death penalty is what we should have in force. There are innocent people put to death, but after all, this life is not the one that matters. How this life is lived is what matters.

After the bombing of 9/11/01, I would happily say to put to death anyone that caused the death of all the innocent ones that were killed that day. I strongly defend the death penalty.

Answer 6

Not many. Probably most people who are actually executed were guilty. I have no idea why death penalty opponents find it necessary to claim otherwise. I'm opposed to the death penalty but it's a matter of principle. I certainly don't find I need to convince myself the victims are all or even mostly wrongfully convicted. My objection is to the penalty,which I consider primitive and inhumane.

Answer 7

It is very intereting to me to read these answers and see biblical references for the death penalty when I just read answers for why the bible says no killing as a response to a question on abortion. How can abortions be killing and evil, and the death penalty not be killing but necessary under the will of god!
Messed up. We can kill live people, but not prevent a life before it is a formed baby.

Answer 8

Yes, it is tragic if an innocent person is executed but we have the fairest system in the world, it just isn't perfect. I don't think letting people sit in prison, who are guilty of horrible things,,like burying a little girl alive after raping her over and over....is the answer either..is that what you want to do?

Answer 9

As far as I know it has never been proven that an innocent person has been executed. That being said the death penalty is a good thing. I wish we didn't need it but we do. I think it should be used more often and without the pointless delays.

Answer 10

More white people charged with murder are given the death sentence than black people who are charged with murder.

The death penatly is much more unfair to whites than blacks in every catagory.

How many.. counting lynchings.. 10k since the begining of the country.

In the last 10 years... maybe 1 or 2.