Discussion for article #222993
For cryin’ out loud, end the death penalty already, if only because it’s so damned expensive, but of course for many other reasons. Until the rightwing grip on this nation is loosened, we’ll still have ridiculous cases like this one popping up in the news, next to articles about yet more murders.
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“There have been 316 post-conviction DNA exonerations in United States history”. (From Innocence Project Stats.)
Eighteen – count 'em, 18 – of them were sitting on death row awaiting execution. That has to be the grand daddy of all nightmares: wrongfully sentenced to death.
If these numbers aren’t enough to scream for the end of the death penalty, then we all should hope there’s no hell because there won’t be enough room for all of us who stay silent.
I’ve said before, that in spite of all this, I don’t have a philosophical objection to the death penalty. I’m thinking, for ex, of war criminals or a Ted Bundy.
These figures, however, demonstrate an enormous rate of error that must give us all pause. An intuitive statistical regression here tells us we’ve probably executed some number of innocents, mostly the poor and those of color.
The death penalty has become little more than a Grand Guignol ritual that permits supporters to believe there’s justice for the worst of crimes.
I must ask…would Alito have stepped in if the inmate hadn’t been White?
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Gotta believe that consciously or unconsciously, that might have been a factor in his decision. Or, to his credit, he might be just as sick of this Festival of Executions as the rest of us.
Shorter GOP: DIE! SUFFER! DIE! SUFFER SOME MORE! DIE! Sincerely, the Pro-Life Party
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