The Innocence project

[del]

One possible execution in 30 years. I would say the system works pretty damn good, wouldn't you?

tell it to the dead guy.

Over 300 MILLION people live in the US. of that according to a recent thread 30 million are in jail. Now do the math.... 1 guy out of 30 million? Pretty damn good system.

The death penalty should be used more often and the executions should be swift sure and BROADCAST. States should use the Federal system, the Feds manage to execute in 2 to 4 years as States can take 20 or more.

Further we should have a 2 tier justice system. Those convicted with little to no chance of retraining should be locked up forever or executed, those with a chance to retrain should be kept away from the first group and given every effort to get them off the fast track to prison.

unless it's you.

pretty damn good doesn't cut it.

 

[Ravi]

Any evidence?

actually....

Posthumous DNA Testing in Texas Undermines Propriety of Execution
Seth — November 15, 2010 @ 1:39 PM — Comments (1)
Late last week, Mitotyping, a DNA lab in State College, PA, released results that demonstrate that Texas should not have executed Claude Jones in 2000. The Texas Observer reports:

Claude Jones always claimed that he wasn’t the man who walked into an East Texas liquor store in 1989 and shot the owner. He professed his innocence right up until the moment he was strapped to a gurney in the Texas execution chamber and put to death on Dec. 7, 2000. His murder conviction was based on a single piece of forensic evidence recovered from the crime scene—a strand of hair—that prosecutors claimed belonged to Jones.

But DNA tests completed this week at the request of the Observer and the New York-based Innocence Project show the hair didn’t belong to Jones after all. The day before his death in December 2000, Jones asked for a stay of execution so the strand of hair could be submitted for DNA testing. He was denied by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

Posthumous DNA Testing in Texas Undermines Propriety of Execution | Innocence Project of Florida

One possible execution in 30 years. I would say the system works pretty damn good, wouldn't you?

One is one too many, you phony conservative.

 

[jillian]

Any evidence?

actually....

Posthumous DNA Testing in Texas Undermines Propriety of Execution
Seth — November 15, 2010 @ 1:39 PM — Comments (1)
Late last week, Mitotyping, a DNA lab in State College, PA, released results that demonstrate that Texas should not have executed Claude Jones in 2000. The Texas Observer reports:

Claude Jones always claimed that he wasn’t the man who walked into an East Texas liquor store in 1989 and shot the owner. He professed his innocence right up until the moment he was strapped to a gurney in the Texas execution chamber and put to death on Dec. 7, 2000. His murder conviction was based on a single piece of forensic evidence recovered from the crime scene—a strand of hair—that prosecutors claimed belonged to Jones.

But DNA tests completed this week at the request of the Observer and the New York-based Innocence Project show the hair didn’t belong to Jones after all. The day before his death in December 2000, Jones asked for a stay of execution so the strand of hair could be submitted for DNA testing. He was denied by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

Posthumous DNA Testing in Texas Undermines Propriety of Execution | Innocence Project of Florida

One possible execution in 30 years. I would say the system works pretty damn good, wouldn't you?

that was just a two second google search of the terms "dna proves innocence posthumously". I suppose i could go back. but isn't even one enough?

*edit*

ok... here's wayne tompkins

Wayne Tompkins | Innocence Project of Florida

the innocence project is still trying to get his dna... posthumously.

and just because someone wasn't put to death, that doesn't reduce the horror. think about jeffrey deskovics...he was wrongfully convicted as a teenager after an illegally obtained confession. can you imagine? imprisoned from 16 to 33 for something he didn't do??

(WHITE PLAINS, NY; September 20, 2006) – DNA tests prove that Jeffrey Deskovic did not commit a rape and murder in Peekskill for which he was convicted in 1990, the Innocence Project said today. Deskovic was convicted of raping and killing a high school classmate when he was 16; now 33, he has been in prison ever since.

The Innocence Project - DNA Proves Jeffrey Deskovic’s Innocence 16 Years After He Was Wrongly Convicted as a Teenager

you can't imagine that it is only now that DNA evidence is available to keep people from execution that suddenly innocent people are being convicted. you must know that innocent people have been executed.

 

[Ravi]

Here's a list of eight, RetardedFuckTard.

Now quit lying, if you can.

8 People Who Were Executed and Later Found Innocent | Naked Law by Avvo.com

 

[Valerie]

Facts on Post-Conviction DNA Exonerations


There have been 265 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States.

• The first DNA exoneration took place in 1989. Exonerations have been won in 34 states; since 2000, there have been 198 exonerations.

• 17 of the 265 people exonerated through DNA served time on death row.

• The average length of time served by exonerees is 13 years. The total number of years served is approximately 3,433.

• The average age of exonerees at the time of their wrongful convictions was 27.

Races of the 265 exonerees:

158 African Americans
80 Caucasians
21 Latinos
2 Asian American
4 whose race is unknown

• The true suspects and/or perpetrators have been identified in 116 of the DNA exoneration cases.

• Since 1989, there have been tens of thousands of cases where prime suspects were identified and pursued—until DNA testing (prior to conviction) proved that they were wrongly accused.

• In more than 25 percent of cases in a National Institute of Justice study, suspects were excluded once DNA testing was conducted during the criminal investigation (the study, conducted in 1995, included 10,060 cases where testing was performed by FBI labs).

• About half of the people exonerated through DNA testing have been financially compensated. 27 states, the federal government, and the District of Columbia have passed laws to compensate people who were wrongfully incarcerated. Awards under these statutes vary from state to state.

• 22 percent of cases closed by the Innocence Project since 2004 were closed because of lost or missing evidence.

The Innocence Project - Facts on Post-Conviction DNA Exonerations

 

[Skull Pilot]

We have cases that go back that far and STILL no evidence. Yet we have evidence of the other. Guess what? I am of the opinion that even if a few people were wrongly put to death the Death Penalty is not only needed but needs to be used MORE now then ever.

Once again get back to me when you have evidence and I will explain how I don't care. Which does not change the fact you have no evidence.

So reasonable thinking is beyond you?

Tell me when there is no evidence left to test or no one willing to test what evidence is left how can you be so sure no mistakes were made?

Your certainty of the infallibility of government is disturbing.

RETARD ALERT. I never said the Government is infallible. Go ahead provide such a quote from me. What I said and will continue to say is YOU can provide evidence all the way back to the 70's that people were wrongly convicted and have been released, YET, you can NOT provide a SINGLE case of someone put to death being wrongly convicted. WHY? And what does that say? It says to me it has not happened in the last 30 years. I mean really? You have active groups that have been trying for decades to prove JUST that and have not done so yet.

Our Justice system sucks but given my choice of the worlds systems, guess what? I chose OURS. And I believe it gets it RIGHT a hell of a lot more then it gets it wrong.

So innocent men put to death more than 30 years ago is something to which you can admit even if there is no evidence?

 

[westwall]

Every time I hear about one of these cases I get pissed off...do we owe these people something, as a society?

DNA restores man's freedom - WMBFNews.com | Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC | News, Weather, Sports

No, society as a whole doesn't owe them anything. The particular DA or judicial department I would think does however. The problem is how do you repay someone for the loss of a significant part of their lives? I would certainly rate it on a sliding scale with a completely innocent person who had never been in trouble with the law getting a considerable amount over some person who was constantly in trouble with the law.

Interesting...why?

Because society didn't put them there. That particular judicial branch and DA did.

 

[Skull Pilot]

No, society as a whole doesn't owe them anything. The particular DA or judicial department I would think does however. The problem is how do you repay someone for the loss of a significant part of their lives? I would certainly rate it on a sliding scale with a completely innocent person who had never been in trouble with the law getting a considerable amount over some person who was constantly in trouble with the law.

Interesting...why?

Because society didn't put them there. That particular judicial branch and DA did.

AKA the government

 

[westwall]

Except we have evidence of those wrongly convicted and released, There are several groups that have spent 20 years or more trying to prove even one innocent man was executed and yet we have ZERO evidence.

And what of those convicted before DNA or other advanced scientific techniques?

Are you willing to bet your life that no mistakes were made then?

We have cases that go back that far and STILL no evidence. Yet we have evidence of the other. Guess what? I am of the opinion that even if a few people were wrongly put to death the Death Penalty is not only needed but needs to be used MORE now then ever.

Once again get back to me when you have evidence and I will explain how I don't care. Which does not change the fact you have no evidence.

Here we will diverge my friend. I guarantee you innocent people have been killed. After a execution is carried out the evidence is disposed of or lost or otherwise gotten rid of. There is no way to go back and retest the evidence in cases from the 1950's or earlier. It is impossible for the vast majority of cases. Lack of evidence I agree would get the case thrown out of court but to ignore the overwhelming evidence that it has happened so often
with modern legal techniques being employed, one must conclude that it has happened in the past. Maybe many times.

 

[westwall]

Any evidence?

actually....

Posthumous DNA Testing in Texas Undermines Propriety of Execution
Seth — November 15, 2010 @ 1:39 PM — Comments (1)
Late last week, Mitotyping, a DNA lab in State College, PA, released results that demonstrate that Texas should not have executed Claude Jones in 2000. The Texas Observer reports:

Claude Jones always claimed that he wasn’t the man who walked into an East Texas liquor store in 1989 and shot the owner. He professed his innocence right up until the moment he was strapped to a gurney in the Texas execution chamber and put to death on Dec. 7, 2000. His murder conviction was based on a single piece of forensic evidence recovered from the crime scene—a strand of hair—that prosecutors claimed belonged to Jones.

But DNA tests completed this week at the request of the Observer and the New York-based Innocence Project show the hair didn’t belong to Jones after all. The day before his death in December 2000, Jones asked for a stay of execution so the strand of hair could be submitted for DNA testing. He was denied by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

Posthumous DNA Testing in Texas Undermines Propriety of Execution | Innocence Project of Florida

One possible execution in 30 years. I would say the system works pretty damn good, wouldn't you?

Except for that innocent man. Read "A Theory of Justice" by John Rawls someday.

 

[westwall]

Interesting...why?

Because society didn't put them there. That particular judicial branch and DA did.

AKA the government

No, that particular DA (think Mike Nifong here) and the judicial system in that area. In other words the group of men and women in that localised area put the innocent person in jail. Not the whole country, not the Laws of this land, but those people. Society implies the whole when the whole are not responsible.

 

[Modbert]

So what happens when you arrest , try and sentence a murderer to life without parole and he keeps killing guards and other inmates?

Don't we wish that prison had a place where you could separate people from everybody else? I really wish they had such a thing.

Though to be honest, your post lacks any sort of common sense. You clearly have no idea how prisons work when it comes to that sort of dangerous criminals. I'd tell you to go watch an episode of Lockup but I'm sure you would freak out at the thought of watching a show on MSNBC.

 

[Modbert]

As usual, RGS throws around the word retard like it's going out of style while continuing to be the most illogical person in the thread.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Because society didn't put them there. That particular judicial branch and DA did.

AKA the government

No, that particular DA (think Mike Nifong here) and the judicial system in that area. In other words the group of men and women in that localised area put the innocent person in jail. Not the whole country, not the Laws of this land, but those people. Society implies the whole when the whole are not responsible.

I did not specify local or federal government. A DA is a government employee.

 

[westwall]

AKA the government

No, that particular DA (think Mike Nifong here) and the judicial system in that area. In other words the group of men and women in that localised area put the innocent person in jail. Not the whole country, not the Laws of this land, but those people. Society implies the whole when the whole are not responsible.

I did not specify local or federal government. A DA is a government employee.

Yes I realize that but the OP asked if SOCIETY owed the innocent people anything.

 

[Valerie]

No, that particular DA (think Mike Nifong here) and the judicial system in that area. In other words the group of men and women in that localised area put the innocent person in jail. Not the whole country, not the Laws of this land, but those people. Society implies the whole when the whole are not responsible.

I did not specify local or federal government. A DA is a government employee.

Yes I realize that but the OP asked if SOCIETY owed the innocent people anything.

FTR, many of them have already been compensated and many others still stand to be compensated in the future...





"About half of the people exonerated through DNA testing have been financially compensated. 27 states, the federal government, and the District of Columbia have passed laws to compensate people who were wrongfully incarcerated. Awards under these statutes vary from state to state."

The Innocence Project - Know the Cases: Search Profiles

 

[Valerie]

After Exoneration

DNA testing has freed scores of innocent inmates around the country. But where does a wrongly convicted person go when released from prison without a safety net?

Many exonerees are released from their cells without fanfare, apologies or anywhere to go. In some states, more services are available to parolees than to exonerees. During long years in prison, families and friends have disappeared. Any money in the bank before conviction has probably been spent on legal fees. Most exonerees struggle immediately to find housing and work and many bear the weight of a conviction on their record for years before they are officially cleared.

The stories of seven wrongly convicted men and their adjustment to freedom are told in the recently released documentary, "After Innocence".

The Innocence Project is working to create programs and laws nationwide that help the wrongly convicted get back on their feet after release. One of our goals is to pass fair compensation laws in every state. Right now, 27 states and the District of Columbia have compensation of some form, but even many of these are inadequate.

The Innocence Project - Know the Cases: After Exoneration

 

[California Girl]

We certainly do have a debt to those who have been wrongly convicted. We at least owe it to them to put their life back to where it would have been had they not been to prison and some reasonable compensation to help them secure their future.

However, just because a few are innocent, does not mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater, as it were.

The DP should stay. For a few reasons. Mainly, because there are some people who just frankly deserve it. What they have done is so barbaric that they do not deserve to live - even in prison. Also, if we scrap the DP and just give out life without parole, we will end up requiring huge investments in more prisons. Our prisons are already overflowing and, if we can't allow these people to walk among us again, then we will end up with huge prisons constantly full of lifers. It's not practical.

In my view, the DP is overused. It is also a bargaining tool and I don't think it should be. We should certainly not be executing people with severe mental problems or educationally subnormal. That is not civilized. We should use the DP sparingly and with great caution. You cannot undo the DP. It's a permanent solution and should be used as such. But we have to have it. Because the alternative is to keep adding to an already overburdened prison population.

Also, we seriously need to address why so many more minorities are convicted than whites. I don't believe for one second that minorities commit more crimes, so why is it that minorities form the majority of our penal system? That, to me, is a huge issue that - as a society - we need to address.

 

[Kat]

Do any of you that oppose the death penalty think there may ever be a case where there should be death?
What is someone confesses to a heinous murder?

Case in point:

My brother's wife. Approximately 10 years ago his wife's sister's ex boyfriend went to their mom's house. The mother of course knew him, and let him in. She was a tiny 80 pound woman. As soon as he got in the door, he punched her in the face. He proceeded to beat her all over the house..with his fists and a hammer, splattering the walls and floor with her blood, beating her to death. Why? He wanted drug money.
Brother's wife found her later that night.

He confessed to the crime..gave details of how it all took place, and of course there was DNA.

He is on death row now, and has been for several years, while my brother's wife - her dad - other siblings are left STILL trying to deal with her death. Especially my brother's wife. It did something to her that I doubt she will ever get over.

This is merely a case for ''life in prison''?????? Why should he live? Give me one good reason.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Barry Scheck was the only good lawyer in the OJ case.