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Originally Posted by 3745 Laddie
I never said anything about being confident that it couldn't happen again (or hadn't happened before),I simply pointed out that the innocent people might die card is a misguided (or dishonest) one to play.And I illustrated my point with the road accident and dubious wars examples.
Do you suppose the absence of the death penalty made miscarriages of justice such as the Guildford four and Birmingham six more or less likely?My money would be on the former.
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I don't follow your point.
We have conclusive evidence that we have put many men on Death Row who were factually innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted. It was only a bit of luck that DNA technology emerged in time to exonerate them. It is reasonable to assume that there were similar numbers of innocent folks who actually did get executed before this technology was applied, and who would have been exonerated had it been available.
What is "misguided" about observing that having the State execute innocent people is a bad thing to do?
The presence or absence of a death penalty doesn't make error in other criminal cases more or less likely. The significant difference is: Once you've executed someone, you have no way to put your error right. Someone wrongfully convicted and serving a long term can be released to enjoy the rest of his life . . . that's not perfect, but its much better than to have killed him.