New Study: 1 in 25 Death Row Inmates In America, Innocent
Photo Link: “Botched Execution Reignites Death Penalty Debate”
Maybe you’ve been on the fence about whether capital punishment has any place in civilized society. I don’t blame you. Maybe we, Americans, aren’t really as civilized as we’d like to think. I’d like to believe otherwise, but I know that often times rationality comes in short supply when the sensationalism of mainstream media takes the reigns of public opinion.
Ultimately though, you can’t deny that the death penalty is about vengeance. Aside from that, you also can’t deny that there’s absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest that the death penalty serves as a deterrent to prevent crime. So if you still support the death penalty, then the only shallow argument you’re left with is to argue whether vengeance is truly an acceptable reason to take away human life.
However, if you’re okay with vengeance being an acceptable reason to support capital punishment, I truly hope you’re also certain that the chosen target of such state sanctioned vengeance is really 100% accurate. I say that because you’re about to be in for a rude awakening.
New research shows that more than 1 in 25 individuals sentenced to death in the United States are innocent. Meaning that not only should the inmate have never been placed on death row, but the falsely accused individual never committed the crime in the first place. Check the link for the latest study which was conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan using data from 7,500 death sentences handed down between 1973 to 2004.
Now ask yourself: If a 1 in 25 error rate is low enough for anyone in good conscience to find it acceptable to “officially” take away human life on behalf of the state? Personally, I don’t even think that’s a remotely acceptable rate to place anyone in prison, let alone to sentence any individual to death.
In the meantime, here’s the latest about the most recent, and all too common, botched execution proceedings that took place in the state of Oklahoma. Apparently, the state was set to conduct a sickening double-execution on Tuesday. However, after the first inmate’s vein burst and complications ensued, the prison decided to temporarily delay the barbaric capital punishment extravaganza for another day.
Until Next Time Constant Reader…
Peace,
Daniel 🙂
 Oh, BTW…
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