News yesterday of a horribly botched execution in Oklahoma brought the question of capital punishment back into the forefront. In this case, a planned three-drug, sequential injection went awry, presumably because the fluids didn't get into his vein, so he wound up writhing in apparent pain for about 20 minutes before dying of a heart attack. So much for our modern "humane" methods; maybe the guillotine and the electric chair were quicker and therefore more humane.
That, however, is only the introduction to the main story I want to highlight, which has just been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. It adds to reasons for thinking the death penalty should be abolished in the 32 states and federal jurisdictions that still have it.
A group at the University of Michigan Law School reviewed the outcomes of 7,482 death sentences from 1973 to 2004. Of that group, 117 (1.6%) were exonerated, i.e. were found to be innocent and released.
But the authors concluded, based on other statistics, that with enough time and money to investigate, at least 4.1% would have been found innocent. They then figured that during this period more than 200 additional ones were probably innocent.
Not all of them were executed. Many who appealed their convictions had their sentences reduced to life in prison. One conclusion from this study is that, once a condemned prisoner is taken off death row, efforts to prove innocence are less likely to be pursued and they spend the rest of their lives in jail.
Think about it ! One in 25 people given a death sentence is innocent. But only about 1/3 of them are released. The other 2/3 of these innocent people are either executed or spend the rest of their lives in prison.
That should not be acceptable in a civilized society.
Ralph
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