So this article reminded me of the problems with the death penalty.
The person in the article didn't get it, but one of his co-accused was sentenced to death.
the person in the article spent 39 years in jail, all based on the accusations of one 12-year-old, who later recanted.
While that's a travesty, the real concern is the person who spent years on death row before it was finally reduced (and then exonerated completely, eventually).
Even if you think, in theory, the death penalty is a just punishment. In practice, our criminal justice system is simply too poorly run. So, unless you are ok with the occasional innocent person getting executed, it's tough IMO to argue why we should keep the death penalty in practice.
It boils down to money mostly, although there are yes racial components to it, as well as gender components (men get it at a higher rate than women, whether you get it by race depends not on the race of the person doing the killing but the race of the person who was killed).
in jail for 39 years
The person in the article didn't get it, but one of his co-accused was sentenced to death.
the person in the article spent 39 years in jail, all based on the accusations of one 12-year-old, who later recanted.
While that's a travesty, the real concern is the person who spent years on death row before it was finally reduced (and then exonerated completely, eventually).
Even if you think, in theory, the death penalty is a just punishment. In practice, our criminal justice system is simply too poorly run. So, unless you are ok with the occasional innocent person getting executed, it's tough IMO to argue why we should keep the death penalty in practice.
It boils down to money mostly, although there are yes racial components to it, as well as gender components (men get it at a higher rate than women, whether you get it by race depends not on the race of the person doing the killing but the race of the person who was killed).
in jail for 39 years
