A wrongful execuion for murder means that the real murderer is still at large..

[Cal33]

Around the year 2000 when DNA testing came into general use, it was
found that some of those in prison accused of murder were actually
innocent. The governor of Illinois, a Republican, immediately
ordered the 23 inmates on death-row in his state be given the test.
12 of the 23 were found to be innocent! That's just a little over
half of those men condemned to die. The governor put a stop to
all executions until further study. I don't know how the final results
of the study turned out.

Implications of the above:

1. A high percentage of those executed for crimes were innocent.

2. This means that the real criminals were free. And since the
executions had already taken place, no one is looking for them
any more. Their cases were closed.

3. Who are those people who literally "get away with murder?" Let's
think of some possibilities:

a. The intelligent ones who know how to not only commit a crime
successfully, but also make it look like someone else had done it.

b. Some times this would involve the help of several others.

c. And who would be in a position to obtain the help of others in
such a grisly undertaking? The rich, the powerful, and in some
cases the exposure of the real criminal would make the whole
organization he belongs to look bad.

I am sure there are other categories of such people.

The reasons mentioned above alone are enough for me to be against the death
penalty. It is so final!! There are people who enjoy the feeling of
literally having the power of life and death over others. These are the
sick ones, and some of them are well known public figures.

One main thing is that there are guilty murderers at large, with some
innocent person having been executed in his stead. Does anyone know
whether or not the cases of the 12 freed prisoners on death-row in 2000
were re-opened and further pursued?

[dkf]

1. Why is life in prison so much better than death row?

If anything people on death row will have their cases scrutinized more closely Increasing their chances of being freed. I bet there are more wrongfully convicted people not on death row for that reason.

If we think the whole damned system is a mess, then what?

[Cal33]

6. For one thing, as long as an innocent prisoner is living, there is

hope that his innocence might come to light some time, and
the wrong could be adjusted. But when one has already been
executed, nothing more can be done about it for him. It's final.

[dkf]

8. But it's much more random.

How many people do you think were trying to exonerate Troy Davis vs the average Joe not in death row?

[Cal33]

18. You've got a point there. There must also be a lot of innocent inmates

in the general prison (not on death-row) who have been railroaded there.

It is also well-known that Cheney's chief-of-staff is in prison, but
Cheney isn't. Cheney must have been so sure that Bush would issue a
pardon, but, surprisingly enough, Bush didn't.

[Fumesucker]

2. I suspect a bunch of these people went into politics..

:shrug:

[CarmanK]

3. I don't think most a still free! They are in jail for something else!

People who commit murder out of revenge and or are gang members will inevitably become victims of their own set of violent standards. It's just that the state has no business in the DEATH BUSINESS. We obviously are not very good at it. If 12 of the 23 were innocent, it is obvious that the system is flawed. I like a congressman's idea that a federal law be passed, that the state cannot EXECUTE on a guilty verdict, if the only evidence is eye witness testimony. 7 of Troy Davis' witnesses recanted. that means they were NOT SURE, that alone created REASONABLE DOUBT. Our system is supposed to be just and no INNOCENT man should die for a crime he did not commit.
How do we help fund the continuation of the search for the real killer??

[Cal33]

19. Yes, our system is definitely flawed, as are almost all human systems.

15 states and DC have already banned capital punishment. I guess the governor
of Illinois' further study of capital punishment 10 years ago did result in
something good. Illinois is one of those states that has banned the death
penalty altogether. (He is a Republican, by the way -- one of those rare
ones).

[Overseas]

4. And in an era in which "enhanced interrogation" is used, "eyewitness testimony" is easier to obtain.

Even without the glamorization of torture that has taken place in our cruel society, wheeling and dealing for reduced sentences can also elicit false testimony.

That's what scares me. There should be higher standards for execution if it is ever used again.

[efhmc]

5. I remember that governor's action. This is the action of my

governor. Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted of setting the fire that killed his three children and subsequently executed. Not only did Governor Rick Perry deny Willingham’s appeal for clemency even though an expert arson investigator had rebutted all the solid evidence in the case, Perry fired investigators who were about to provide Willingham’s innocence.

[Cal33]

10. In his 10 years as governor, Perry has okayed the deaths

of 234 prisoners on death-row so far. Bush had okayed
the deaths of about 130 prisoners during his 5 years
as governor. Bush was known for never having reduced
the sentence of any one of them. I don't know about
Perry, but both of them are from Texas.

[smokey nj]

20. Bush commuted one death sentence, that of Henry Lee Lucas.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/06/26/national/main12682.shtml

[Cal33]

21. Am glad to hear of that. So he did commute one death sentence.

I remember reading his saying that he always followed the recommendations
of the Review Board. One is better than none.

[smokey nj]

22. He didn't have any choice with Lucas. There were serious doubts about

some of his confessions.

[Capitalocracy]

7. That high number of innocent people convicted of murder is so frightening

It's as if the MO of the police and DA is to just grab the first person they can get their hands on and force a confession out of them or manage to convict them anyway regardless of guilt or innocence.

Getting away with murder is like escaping from zombies... you don't have to be the fastest runner as long as you can trip someone else. All you have to do to get away with murder is make sure there's someone else, preferably of dark complexion, closer to the crime scene than you.

[LiberalFighter]

16. Description of police and prosecutors

lazy
corrupt
incompetent
press hungry
vengeance
just find someone guilty

[Cal33]

17. Maybe it took them many years to work their way up the ranks, after

having faced death many times. Is it possible that after
having survived all that during their younger years, they now
feel they've "earned" the right to get some reward that is
bigger than what their salaries offer? :)

[LiberalFighter]

24. I guess they got into it for the wrong reason(s).

I wonder what type of oath of office they took that allows them to be corrupt. And I wonder why if their FOP bargained for them and got them good wages and benefits they need more? Especially now, when both the private and public sector employees are seeing reductions in wages and benefits.

[Cal33]

25. It is true that some of them are corrupt,, but can you point out any areas of

human activity where there is no corruption? There is corruption to be found
even in religions, and religions are supposed to be not interested in material
things but in spiritual ones only.

[LiberalFighter]

27. I agree. And why we also should not treat certain occupations better than others.

Like law enforcement should not be consider always honest in courts.

[surrealAmerican]

9. You are jumping to conclusions.

While it is very likely that some of the actual murderers are at large, it is not a conclusion we can draw from the facts we know. Unfortunately, without knowing who the real murderers are, we can't actually prove anything here.

I'm also quite willing to believe that the police are more than capable of arresting the wrong person without the actual murderer having anything to do with it.

[Cal33]

12. Yes, that's a category of wrongful executions I hadn't thought of. This

could especially happen when a policeman has been murdered -- one
of their own. That makes them go out for revenge. It reminds
them of how dangerous their job is. It reminds them of their own
vulnerability. On some level of consciousness, it probably makes
them feel better when they know that one of their own has been
avenged.

I do believe that being a policman is a job that is awfully
rough on the nerves. One is tense so much of the time. I wouldn't
want such a job. It's too much for me.

[Cal33]

23. "While it is very likely that some of the actual murderers are at large, it is not a conclusion we

can draw from the facts we know."

I can think of one case where a known murderer is at large, and has never even been tried, a
subordinate was tried instead and took the punishment for him. Dick Cheney deliberately
exposed the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame in retaliation for what her husband had done.
As a result, her contacts with agents working for the USA in foreign countries became exposed.
Some of them must have died slow and painful deaths.

[fredamae]

11. What an Insult to the LE Officer who died

Apparently this young man was dedicated to public service, justice etc-then he was killed. The family of the victim just victimized him Again by insisting Davis be put to death with out Any consideration for the truth and justice.

BTW, the company that provids this "execution service" gets paid $18,000.00 per execution.

[Cal33]

15. Yes, it is an insult to his memory.

[Lint Head]

13. The real murderer is still at large and according to percentages will kill again.

[Ben Gay]

14. They should hire O.J. to help with the search...

shrug

[NNN0LHI]

29. Welcome to DU

When I would try to discuss something like this with my racist father the first thing out of his mouth was OJ.

Imagine that?

Don

[Recursion]

26. Well, not all evidence that produces reasonable doubt exonerates

Does anyone know whether or not the cases of the 12 freed prisoners on death-row in 2000 were re-opened and further pursued?

There have been 273 DNA-based exonerations of people convicted of crimes; 124 of those cases have resulted in convictions of different people. 17 of the 273 exonerees were on death row (at some point in their incarceration; some had had their sentences commuted by the time of the DNA test). Most troubling (to me) is the fact that nearly a quarter of the exonerees had at one point confessed to the crime.

[Capitalocracy]

28. Two murderers still at large.

Whoever committed the murder, and the state of Georgia.