Another Example Why the Death Penalty MUST be STOPPED!

John Thompson of New Orleans was sentenced to death for a 1984
murder. 30 days before his execution, an investigation revealed a police lab report that cleared his name. Thompson was set free and is currently waiting for the Supreme Court to award him 14 million dollars.
How can this Not cause anybody to wonder how many innocent people
have wrongly been Murdered by the gobermnt!
Even one, Yes, one, innocent person, is too many!
Capitol punishment must be Stopped!

I am for Capital Punishment but I agree that is a reason for questioning.

I came across this story in the Oct 6th, Special Report section, on page 13A, of The USA TODAY.
It greatly saddens me that their could be hundreds of innocent people killed, hundreds have familys ripped apart, and thousands of people left without justice.

reply to post by Violater1


So because a man was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, we should abolish the death penalty? Where is the logic in that? How about we fix the justice system that wrongfully convicted and imprisoned him in the first place? I'm no math wizard but, by my calculations, if we brought the number of wrongfully convicted and imprisoned people down to zero, the number of people wrongfully executed would be the same amount.

Death Penalty Statistics

This website says it all really.

There may be over 1000 people executed on death row since 1976 who were innocent.

I couldn't imagine how it's like to be on death row KNOWING you're innocent but not being able to do anything about it, and knowing death is just round the corner :-/

reply to post by Violater1


I am pro-capital punishment, but I understand what you're saying. Unfortunatly, I'm of the opinion that the death penalty should be expanded to include not only murder, but rape, pedophelia, child abusers, drunk drivers, and stupid people.

My point being, what if it was a loved one of yours; mom, dad, child, brother or sister, that was wrongly put to death? A death that we tax payer's paid for!
A chain gang, or plowing a field isn't murdering anybody. Picking vegetables is going to kill anyone.

Originally posted by KILL_DOGG
stupid people.

That would be a genocide. Far too many stupid people.

Originally posted by KILL_DOGG
..pedophelia..

Why would you make paedophilia illegal, and how on earth would you plan on enforcing it?

On topic, I live in the UK where we've had the death penalty outlawed since the 1960's. I and a vast number of others (likely the majority) are against it being reinstated.

It is better that 1000 guilty men go free than to punish 1 innocent man.

Of course if we didn't have a revenge penal system but a rehabilitation penal system we wouldn't need a death penalty at all.

But instead, prisons in this country are more or less higher institutions of learning for criminals to be better criminals and once a person has been to jail their employment options are very slim indeed once they have paid their debt to society.

I agree that some cases dont deserve death penalty

if you cant prove for certain (video) or a lot of witness very credible and unbiased, then the guy should never get the death penalty

but come on, if the guy is a serial killer, psychopath ... there's nothing you can do to help him

Originally posted by whatukno
It is better that 1000 guilty men go free than to punish 1 innocent man.

This statement gets the dumbest quote of the day nomination, and there have been some big ones today. Imagine your home being broken into 1000 times, each time the person you KNOW did it goes free to make sure the one wrongly accused person went free.

Any legal system must consider itself fallible. The current ones in Canada and the USA that award people based on numbers and not on justice need an overhaul. The best way to avoid the congestion and the carelessness would be to stop imprisoning people on stupid crimes. Possessing a personal amount of weed for their own consumption isn't a crime worthy of prison. I mean c'mon already....

..Ex

reply to post by v3_exceed


If you were that innocent man, I highly doubt that you would think that statement is dumb at all.

reply to post by Violater1


I agree that it is appalling that the innocent could be incarcerated or exterminated by the state.I think a huge percentage of the prison population shouldn't even be in jail, but that's a topic for another thread.

However, as a bit of a serial killer buff I think that some people have forfeited their right to existence itself, I am grappling internally with the conundrum "if killing is bad killing the killer is also bad".

But I have made my decision for now,there are a few, extreme instances where capital punishment seems like the only conclusion.

The death penalty should have a "points" system attached to it where a predetermined "score" must be reached to satisfy the eligibility for the death penalty.

Eg
clear video footage of a murder could be a high scoring factor
testimony from the town gossip worth almost no points

A comprehensive list of types of evidence and the "points" they attract should be mandatory for the death sentence to even be a consideration.

Originally posted by vanhippi
Death Penalty Statistics

This website says it all really.

There may be over 1000 people executed on death row since 1976 who were innocent.

I couldn't imagine how it's like to be on death row KNOWING you're innocent but not being able to do anything about it, and knowing death is just round the corner :-/

This is the horrific fact of our current government! And exactly why this must be stopped. G_D forbid that I or anyone else I love, would be condemmed to death, it would be better to be condemed to farm work for the rest of our lives.
Stop government sactioned Murder!

Originally posted by PETROLCOIN
reply to post by Violater1

 

So because a man was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, we should abolish the death penalty? Where is the logic in that?

A...What?

Your kidding, right
I can hear a sociaopath saying that exact same thing!

Originally posted by KILL_DOGG
reply to post by Violater1

 

I am pro-capital punishment, but I understand what you're saying. Unfortunatly, I'm of the opinion that the death penalty should be expanded to include not only murder, but rape, pedophelia, child abusers, drunk drivers, and stupid people.

How long will it take for you to include people that disagree with your post!

Originally posted by whatukno
It is better that 1000 guilty men go free than to punish 1 innocent man.

Of course if we didn't have a revenge penal system but a rehabilitation penal system we wouldn't need a death penalty at all.

But instead, prisons in this country are more or less higher institutions of learning for criminals to be better criminals and once a person has been to jail their employment options are very slim indeed once they have paid their debt to society.

A very compasionate responce. Star 4 U.
The death penalty must be stopped.

Originally posted by Faiol
I agree that some cases dont deserve death penalty

if you cant prove for certain (video) or a lot of witness very credible and unbiased, then the guy should never get the death penalty

but come on, if the guy is a serial killer, psychopath ... there's nothing you can do to help him

Yes, he can be helped! He can contribute to filling potholes, or sweeping sewers.
But killing him makes society No better than him.

Originally posted by whatukno
reply to post by v3_exceed

 

If you were that innocent man, I highly doubt that you would think that statement is dumb at all.

Agreed!
My personal applause to you with a star.