General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy we (the Sacramento Bee) changed stand on death penalty
(snip)
Yet there have been times when The Bee has stopped and taken a U-turn, reversing a longstanding editorial position. One of the biggest came last week, when we ended the editorial board's long-standing support for California's death penalty.
We didn't make this change lightly. It came after years of debate and discussion that preceded the current makeup of the editorial board. It came after many months of research and meetings with legal scholars and groups on both sides of the death penalty debate.
The position we took that the death penalty is unworkable and unfixable in California was crafted with several considerations in mind. We wanted to respect those Californians and previous members of the editorial board who believe that executions are a just punishment for convicted murderers who commit the most horrible of crimes.
But we also wanted to make a forceful argument that there is no way in California to carry out that punishment swiftly, equitably and in accordance with our laws and constitution. As we stated in the first installment of our editorials, "The death penalty in California has become an illusion, and we need to end the fiction the sooner the better."
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/16/4822219/stuart-leavenworth-why-we-changed.html#storylink=cpy
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)but DNA evidence exonerating people on death row changed my view on the death penalty. I am not willing to take a chance on executing an innocent person.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Evidence has come to light after they were murdered by the state.
Prosecutors are looking for convictions, and not all of them care about the "truth" in a case.
The US is in the company of Saudi Arabia and Uganda on this issue.
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)further evidence that it should be stopped.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)I'm just reinforcing the anti message.
PDJane
(10,103 posts)Even rabbinical law made the conditions so onerous for the death penalty that they could not, in fact, be enacted. There is a reason for this.
In Canada, the main reasons are the three M's; David Milgaard, Donald Marshall, and Guy-Paul Morin. David Milgaard was a hitchhiker, wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of a nurse. He spent 22 years in jail. Donald Marshall was wrongly convicted of murdering a friend; he is a Mi'kmaq, and institutional racism was deemed to have been a factor in his conviction. Guy-Paul Morin was a shy, solitary man convicted and later exonerated by DNA testing; he was failed by the justice system too, mostly because he was considered a little odd by the community.
There are more of the kind, and more background at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2009/08/06/f-wrongfully-convicted.html
In my view, the death penalty is a barbaric remnant, and is extremely fallible. It's a great way to cage minorities, too, and Canada is not immune to that urge.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)avebury
(10,952 posts)Death and Justice by Mark Fuhrman.
From amazon.com:
Book Description
Publication Date: September 28, 2004
Controversy rages about capital punishment as innocent men and women are being released from death rows all over the country. Are innocent people being executed? Is capital punishment justice or is it revenge?
Into the debate steps Mark Fuhrman, America's most famous detective, and no stranger to controversy himself.
Fuhrman seeks to answer these questions by investigating the death penalty in Oklahoma, where a "hang 'em high" attitude of cowboy justice resulted in twentyone executions in 2001, more than any other state. Most of these cases came from one jurisdiction, Oklahoma County, where legendary DA Bob Macy bragged of sending more people to death row than any other prosecutor, and police chemist Joyce Gilchrist was eventually fired for mismanaging the crime lab. Examining police records, trial transcripts, appellate decisions and conducting hundreds of interviews, Fuhrman focuses his considerable investigative skills on more than a dozen of the most controversial Oklahoma death penalty cases.
I was interested in reading the book because I had moved to Oklahoma County and had heard of the controversy of Joyce Gilchrist. I believe that one of the cases he discusses was overturned since the book came out.
When Mark Fuhrman started this project, he was pro death penalty. By the time he finished the book his viewpoint had changed.
I personally am anti-death penalty because I don't trust the justice system enough to not execute innocent people. Execution is not something that can be taken back if you find out later on the prisoner was innocent.
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)Remember when the Republican governor of Illinois came out against the death penalty some years ago for precisely these reasons?
Capital punishment is FINAL...and so far there seems to have been no system of determining guilt for something beyond any doubt to justify that finality.
indrani
(6 posts)Can the U.S still claim to be politically developed? Reggie Clemons shows us why not.
http://developmentinaction.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/can-the-usa-claim-to-be-a-developed-country-the-reggie-clemons-case-highlights-why-not/
Please share and retweet this article, my twitter is indra_bala
Thank you very much.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)or is it another Mark Fuhrman?
avebury
(10,952 posts)I wanted to read the book because of the fact that he looked at death penalty cases in Oklahoma County and there have been problems with the legal system under Bob Macy and Joyce Gilchrist. All the cases covered occurred before I moved to Oklahoma and do like to read books the provide a behind the scenes look at real life people/situations. It is a very interesting book. I recently upgraded my copy to an ebook for my Kindle.
He is clear that he was, in no way, defending any of the defendants and trying to portray them as angels. He looked at the way the investigations were handled, Gilchrist and how the cases were prosecuted.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)the developmentally disabled.
Despicable, IMHO.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)with a combination of incredulity and disgust that we were strapping people to gurneys and injecting poison into them.
shanti
(21,675 posts)by wingnut bee readers, which outnumber dems by about 3-1. these trolls have totally taken the comment section over. unfortunately, it's my local paper, so i have to read it (for local news).
Some of them are to my post! Good gravy.............
lastlib
(23,216 posts)for any reason. Applying that principle, it would never make the ultimate mistake of killing an innocent person.
indrani
(6 posts)Can the U.S still claim to be politically developed? Reggie Clemons shows us why not.
http://developmentinaction.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/can-the-usa-claim-to-be-a-developed-country-the-reggie-clemons-case-highlights-why-not/
Please share and retweet this article, my twitter is indra_bala
Thank you very much.