Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment

Recent revelations about conviction errors in death penalty cases make it clear that the criminal justice system needs substantial reform in the area of capital punishment; the time has come to reconstruct the capital punishment system. As we look at how these mistakes happened and what we can do in the future it is extremely important to remember that it is the states responsible to punish evil doers and to protect the innocent.

January 31, 2000 Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on the state of Illinois' death penalty.

The governor explained that since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977 only twelve inmates have been put to death but thirteen death row convicts have been exonerated of their crimes. Most were exonerated because DNA testing revealed that they were not guilty. In a few cases witnesses who testified against them at the trial recanted their testimony because they were not sure that they had made a proper identification in a line up. What has happened in Illinois has happened in many other states as well. It makes me question, how many innocent men and women have been wrongfully convicted and put to death?

In the past, the American Justice system accepted the idea that everything in this world has a certain margin of error and that this is one of the unfortunate consequences of capital punishment that must be accepted for the higher good of the American judicial system. One possible solution is to continue to accept this. In light of the number of people who have been exonerated and in light of the fact that they were all to poor to hire their own attorneys to defend them this seem like an extremely corrupt idea to accept. There are those who believe that we should stay the coarse knowing that DNA testing will continue to show the innocence of death row convicts when they request it during the appeals process. I believe we can do better.

Another school of thought is that it is time to get rid of the death penalty in America altogether. This idea is certainly gaining popularity in America. I am convinced that there is a better option.

I believe that the scientific technology that has revealed the problem to us is the answer. I would propose that no man or woman should be put on death row without DNA evidence of their guilt and that no first degree murderer who has been convicted with solid and indisputable, scientific DNA evidence should be allowed to be a life long financial burden to the tax paying people. Further, I would propose that all DNA testing be conducted by an independent and blinded outside laboratory. There have been situations where state crime labs have rendered false positives under very suspicious circumstances. In a recent Virginia death row case state crime lab corruption was revealed. Virginia lawyer, Eric Freeman who defended former death-row inmate,