Why Geoffrey does NOT support the death penalty...
Boing Boing has a snippet today on a new film coming out about seven men exonerated from imprisonment based on DNA testing.
Take a look at the Innocence Project website and you will understand why I cannot support the death penalty.
If the fact that the people found innocent of all charges against them after DNA testing isn't enough to convince you of a flawed justice system, perhaps the fact that the majority of these prisoners are black men should tip you off.
Take a look at the faces on the splash page of the Innocence Project site. Even if there are more black men commiting felonies in this country (doubtful...more likely, the imbalance in convictions is due to the imbalance in wealth distribution...another topic for another day), the fact that there are four black men pictured on a site dedicated to the EXONERATED should give you pause when thinking about who is on death row.
How many more innocent men are awaiting execution?
Yes, innocent people will go to jail and that is wrong. Taking their freedoms and rights away is one thing, but what about the state-sanctioned murder of these innocent people? I, for one, don't want that blood on my hands.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't have a problem with killing human beings....it's just that one should be damned certain that the person in question is guilty; and I guarantee that no state bureaucracy will be able to determine that beyond a reasonable doubt.
Indeed, I am not sure that anyone can necessarily make that judgement without irrefutable empirical evidence, practically negating the justification for vigilantes.
Whoa, rambled for a moment. Peace, y'all.
Free Mumia!! : )
Take a look at the Innocence Project website and you will understand why I cannot support the death penalty.
If the fact that the people found innocent of all charges against them after DNA testing isn't enough to convince you of a flawed justice system, perhaps the fact that the majority of these prisoners are black men should tip you off.
Take a look at the faces on the splash page of the Innocence Project site. Even if there are more black men commiting felonies in this country (doubtful...more likely, the imbalance in convictions is due to the imbalance in wealth distribution...another topic for another day), the fact that there are four black men pictured on a site dedicated to the EXONERATED should give you pause when thinking about who is on death row.
How many more innocent men are awaiting execution?
Yes, innocent people will go to jail and that is wrong. Taking their freedoms and rights away is one thing, but what about the state-sanctioned murder of these innocent people? I, for one, don't want that blood on my hands.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't have a problem with killing human beings....it's just that one should be damned certain that the person in question is guilty; and I guarantee that no state bureaucracy will be able to determine that beyond a reasonable doubt.
Indeed, I am not sure that anyone can necessarily make that judgement without irrefutable empirical evidence, practically negating the justification for vigilantes.
Whoa, rambled for a moment. Peace, y'all.
Free Mumia!! : )
posted by Lost Tortoise | 08:48
3 Comments:
You hate people! I am surprised you are not for random death squads to cull the herd of people.
Oh, that is right you want to be able to choose the people who get the axe!
There's no evidence whatsoever that supports the death penalty as being an effective deterrent.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=12&did=169#MRord
The death penalty is easy to support by most because it's an out-of-sight, out-of-mind situation for them.
Is it okay to kill one wrongly convicted individual as long as you kill 99 truly guilty ones? Some people will say yes. Is it okay if that one wrongly convicted person who is executed is your brother/sister, son/daughter, mother/father, husband/wife? Some will say no and some will say yes. Those who say yes are full of crap. But then again it's easy to say a lot of things. Doing them is a differet matter. It's easy to support something you don't have to do yourself.
"If jurors had to draw straws to see who was going to pull the switch or start the lethal injection, there wouldn't be as many executions." -- Jim Willett, warden at The Walls prison in Huntsville.
- Jeff
Kill Whitey!
Post a Comment
<< Home