On January 19th of this year Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger allowed the
first death sentence to be served in three years, and the first under
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. That is almost copied straight from a
news site (because honestly if I hadn’t, there’s no way I’d have been
able to spell Arnie’s name!)
Anyway, I recently caught an ad for a movie on Court TV called The
Exonerated. It’s based on true stories of several people who spent
years on death row for crimes they didn’t commit. The original version
was a play which inspired my interest in the subject of the death
penalty. I specifically remember one guy who spent something like 20
years on death row before finally being cleared.
Now before someone jumps all over me: I’m not saying that the guy who
was just executed in California was innocent. But does anyone think
it’s acceptable that even one innocent person could be executed? I
think it’s about time this country joins the rest of the civilized
world and adopts a more humane approach. For those of you still on the
fence on this issue, I’d check out this movie, because if it’s anything
like the play the personal stories will astound you. I think it airs on
January 27 (but check courttv.com just in case I’m wrong). And if you
have thoughts on this issue, I’d like to hear them.
I agree: executing so much as one innocent person is intolerable
Tflon, I agree with one of the points you’re making. As a result of the original convictions—in capital cases and in other kinds of cases—lately shown by DNA evidence to have been wrongful, I’ve changed from a death-penalty supporter to an opponent. Unlike liberal death-penalty opponents I support punishing the guilty with death where death is called for. But that’s only provided we can be sure who’s guilty. If we can’t, then we can’t go around putting people to death.
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Long live Flanders!
“But does anyone think it’s
“But does anyone think it’s acceptable that even one innocent person could be executed?”
Thank you Senator (Boxer, Dodd, Kennedy, Murray, ad nauseum…)
I’m quite sick of this sort of sanctimonious and reductive logic which is repeatedly used to both undermine law and order and to destroy what little remains of our liberties.
Is it acceptable that innocent people are killed while driving on the public highways? By your logic we should cease any and all activities that are susceptible to human error. I suppose that should probably start with getting out of bed in the morning.
There is certainly nothing humane about locking some one up for their entire life. We should be glad of the advances in DNA testing because of the opportunity it gives us to justify getting the execution rate back up to where it belongs.