Would spreading awareness about the 140+ innocent people exonerated from death row change public opinion?

Question

Gallup polls consistently released say the vast majority of americans support the death penalty. How many of them even realize that so many people were there and it wasnt them who did it? If Americans still support it even if they aware of this, them crazy

Could any sane person still support the death penalty when the number of death row inmates exonerated after they found out they got the wrong person keeps growing. Had the evidence been delayed any longer, those people wouldnt been executed wit ur tax dollars. All of them were thought to be guilty without any doubt. It takes a lot of certainty and a lot of money to sentence someone to death and they still make so many mistakes!

Why not replace it with life in prison without parole. At least if they got the wrong person, he could be released from prison but cant be released from the grave.

http://www.cleveland.com/brett/blog/index.ssf/2012/01/joe_dambrosio_finally_free_spe.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfa1CfbU1lE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VipSI2HWZaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKQcNHBu-UY

Answer 1

It is very important to get out the facts. In the end, some people will ignore them, but most people do sit up and take notice.



Take a look at some other cases as well: Ray Krone, Kirk Bloodsworth, Ryan Matthews.

Answer 2

I'm British. We don't have the death penalty. If I had my way, we would stop extraditing criminals to America until the death penalty was abolished.



It's a stupid system. It doesn't deter (if it did, America would have a lower murder rate than Britain; never has, never will), and it does harm to the innocent that can't be compensated for.



EDIT - PWBAC, you've confused yourself with your own rhetoric. That should have read "there are educated people in schools; let's abolish schools". People are in schools BECAUSE they're ignorant, in the same way (theoretically) people are in prison because they committed crimes.



The same rhetoric also proves to be flawed because you've said "hospitals". You meant ICU. No-one is advocating we abolish prisons, just death row. So if there are well people on ICU, we should, by your logic, abolish ICU. But there aren't.



Also, in your country, hospitals (stupidly) aren't paid for by the state*, so the comparison doesn't stand anyway.



"You do not abolish a system simply because it sometimes fails" - unless, when it fails, it murders innocent people. That's why Ford no longer make cars with the fuel tank just behind the rear axle.



"It is equally absurd to tell us that everyone that has been released was found innocent." - They don't have to be 'found innocent'. See your next point:



"They merely raised more doubt" - You mean, like, reasonable doubt? So your point is that a presumption of reasonable doubt doesn't apply to new evidence found?



"Good luck finding work with that hanging over your head" - Well, by the same token, good luck finding work when you're DEAD.



DUDLEYSHARP - So 140 dead innocents would have convinced you, but 25-40 dead innocents doesn't? Fine, keep screwing up in the same way. Sooner or later you'll hit that magic number.



Dud, you're a pillock. Have you ever noticed that the jury system is designed to let people walk free if there's any reasonable doubt as to their guilt? That's something called "the Golden Thread", you inherited it from us, and it states that it is better to let a guilty man go free than it is to imprison an innocent man.



IMPRISON. That's what it says in the text books, but you? You'd murder innocents in the name of avenging crime.



Go and read Robert Bolt. If you'd cut down all the rules to hang the devil, where will you hide when the devil turns on you?



*Ben Franklin would have been behind socialised healthcare; remember, he invented the Fire Department. It's just that, in his day, the medical profession was chancers with arts degrees.

Answer 3

I think that people should definitely be made aware of the innocent people who die on death row. They should also be made aware of how the families of those sentenced to death (even if they were guilty) are affected. Death is a horrible punishment, but it punishes those close to the victim/criminal for longer than it does the victim/criminal themself.

Even if spreading awareness of the innocent people executed does not change people's minds about the death sentence, they ought to know. In my opinion, there are 3 reasons why the death sentence is so popular in the US:



1) If people have suffered, they want those responsible to suffer in the same way. Their feeling is that this will help them to deal with their suffering, but whilst it may make them feel like there has been justice, it will not change what has happened

2) If people have suffered, they want to know that something is being done about it. Putting someone in prison, for however long a time, just does not feel satisfying for these people. They want something concrete that they can look at and know that someone has been punished for what they did

3) If people have suffered they want closure for what has happened. They want to know that someone has been punished, and that it has been the right person. They think that it must have been the right person being punished because why else would the state kill them? They would make sure that they were very certain that they were guilty before they killed them, and the state doesn't make mistakes like that.



This is where raising awareness of the innocent who are killed come in. the state knows how people feel when they have been the victims of a crime and they use this to their advantage. Putting someone on death row reassures people that something BIG has been done about it. But people need to know that everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes mistakes are made when someone is pronounced guilty. If raising awareness of these people makes even one person begin to question their opinion on the death penalty then it is worth doing. It takes a long time to change people's views on something this big but this is how you do it; one small step at a time

Answer 4

THE 140 EXONERATED FROM DEATH ROW: ANOTHER ANTI DEATH PENALTY FRAUD



The 140 exonerated claim is a very well known fraud and has been (with various numbers) for over a decade.



5) The 130 (now 140) death row "innocents" scam

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/03/04/fact-checking-issues-on-innocence-and-the-death-penalty.aspx



Based upon a number of reviews, it appears that from 25-40 actual innocents have been discovered on death row and released, or about 0.4% of the 8200 sent to death row since 1973.



Innocents are more at risk without the death penalty, as reviewed at bottom.



FRAUD AND DECEPTION: THE INNOCENCE FACTOR



The false innocence claims by anti death penalty activists are both blatant and legendary Because this is such an important and fraudulent part of the anti death penalty movement, caution and extensive fact checking must be a part of any consideration with their claims.



Some of many examples, below.



4) "The Innocent Executed: Deception & Death Penalty Opponents"

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/10/08/the-innocent-executed-deception--death-penalty-opponents--draft.aspx



6) "Exoneration Inflation: Justice Scalia’s Concurrence in Kansas v. March", by Ward Campbell, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice, p 49, The Journal of the Institute for the Advancement of Criminal Justice, Issue 2, Summer 2008

http://www.cjlf.org/files/CampbellExonerationInflation2008.pdf



7) "The innocence tactic: Unreliable studies and disinformation", reports By United States Congress, Senate, 107th Congress, 2d Session, Calender no 731, Report 107-315. The Innocence Protection Act of 2002, (iv) The innocence tactic: Unreliable studies and disinformation, p 65-69

http://alturl.com/6j7oc



8) "The Innocent and the Shammed", Joshua Marquis, Published in New York Times, 1/26/2006

http://coastda.blogspot.com/2006/01/innocent-and-shammed-nyt-oped.html



9) "Troy Davis & The Innocent Frauds of the anti death penalty lobby",

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2011/11/troy-davis-innocent-frauds-of-anti.html



10) "The Myth Of Innocence"­, Joshua Marquis, pu­blished in the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminolog­y - 3/31/2005, Northweste­rn University School of Law, Chicago, Illinois

http://coastda.blogspot.com/2005/03/myth-of-innocence.html



11) Sister Helen Prejean & the death penalty: A Critical Review"

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/05/04/sister-helen-prejean--the-death-penalty-a-critical-review.aspx



12) "At the Death House Door" Can Rev. Carroll Pickett be trusted?"

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/01/30/fact-checking-is-very-welcome.aspx



13) "Cameron Todd Willingham: Another Media Meltdown", A Collection of Articles

http://homicidesurvivors.com/categories/Cameron%20Todd%20Willingham.aspx

Answer 5

There are innocent people in prison as well. Let's abolish prisons. There are ignorant people in schools. Let's abolish schools. There are well people in hospitals. Let's abolish hospitals.



The problem with life in prison without parole is that it isn't always life in prison without parole. How many times have we seen a prisoner removed from prison (even though they are in for life without parole) because he is too old and sick to be in prison?



You do not abolish a system simply because it sometimes fails. You try to make it work more efficiently. There are all kinds of social activists outside the walls trying to prove that the people inside the walls are innocent. The appeals process takes decades. And, after decades, freeing a person may be just as big an injustice as allowing him to continue where he is. Imagine being sentenced to prison in 1980 and being released today.



And it is absurd to make this an economic issue about tax dollars. It is equally absurd to tell us that everyone that has been released was found innocent. That is not true. And, anyone connect with the various programs knows that. They merely raised more doubt. This does not lead to a finding of innocence for most inmates. It leads to a commutation of sentence. They are still murderers. Good luck finding work with that hanging over your head. But, thank the locals for forcing you into a society that you never belonged in.



Cells phones and personal computers were not even known to most people in 1980. People today can't seem to live without a phone that is a computer. People who have been living on the outside all this time do not have adequate training for today's jobs. And, you want to throw someone back into this society who never had a chance?



Nice guys. No understanding of prison culture, but nice guys. No clue about recidivism, but nice guys. You want to force PTSD on people just so you can feel better about yourselves. Nice guys.



I am sure your tax dollars will be much better spent on inmates outside the walls than inside.

Answer 6

If i was sentenced to life, i would be pleading for them to euthanize me....



I'm a freedom lover, who likes to move around.

Answer 7

no, im on your side but people just don't listen