Capital Punishment

[Lady Sidhe]

And I'd like to make it clear that while I DO advocate the death penalty, that doesn't mean I advocate executing innocent people. Just as everyone who is in jail may not be guilty, not everyone who gets the death penalty is innocent.

I'll check on the stats, but it would seem that very few innocent people are executed. I say this because:

While individuals may favor the death penalty, juries are reluctant to impose it. They're ready to find reasonable doubt or mitigating circumstances if it means they can vote for life in prison. Few people like to think that they were responsible for ordering the death of someone else, even if they think that person deserves it. Opinion is one thing, action another.

Cases that warrant the death penalty are not common. The crimes have to be especially heinous for a prosecutor to go for capital punishment, and a prosecutor usually won't ask for the death penalty unless they're sure they have compelling evidence for both a conviction, and to convince a jury to vote for death.

Even in cases that, under the law, would warrant the death penalty, convicted people often instead receive life in prison (with possibility of parole, or without). Not to mention the fact that the endless appeals give ample time to uncover new or mitigating evidence.

Along with advances in DNA, I think that the liklihood of innocent people getting executed is lower than it ever has been. No system is perfect, but that doesn't mean that the baby should be thrown out with the bathwater. Find ways to lower the chances of innocent people being convicted even more. But when it comes down to it, society deserves to be protected, and some people should be removed permanently.

Lemme go check on those stats. I'm interested in finding out how many innocent people have been executed, myself.


Sidhe