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No system is perfect. The polls shows that the majority of Americans understand that, but still think our justice system is doing a great job.
Uh, This is mindblowing to me...
Fatal errors don't kill support for executions
Web Posted: 02/11/2005 12:00 AM CST
Maro Robbins
San Antonio Express-News
Most Americans believe innocent people have been executed but, according to a study of death penalty at udes released Thursday, most also believe capital punishment is applied fairly.
"That, to me, is unbelievable," said James Unnever, a co-author of the report that appears in this month's edition of Criminology & Public Policy.
Unnever and a fellow sociologist Francis Cullen set out to examine whether support for capital punishment would be shaken by proof that the system made fatal mistakes.
The answer was a qualified yes when the authors analyzed a May 2003 Gallup Poll of 1,005 adults, which had a 3-point margin of error.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they believed an innocent person had been executed in the last five years. At the same time, 64 percent believed that capital punishment was applied fairly.
The answers may seem contradictory at first glance, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
But people who believe the system is fair, even if it kills the wrong person, may believe that mistakes are exceedingly rare while most of the time the death penalty is deserved and effective.
"They believe there may come cases where they'll be 100 percent sure ... the bodies are all over and the videotape shows it," said Dieter, whose group was not involved in the study.
While 118 death row inmates have been exonerated and released, no one has conclusively shown that an innocent person has been executed.
The study also found striking difference in the way whites and blacks reacted to wrongful executions.
Among African Americans who believe innocent people have been executed, support for capital punishment plummets by 51 percent.
In contrast, support for the death penalty dipped 13 percent among whites who believed that wrong people were executed.
The authors speculated that many whites see the death penalty as a distant event, unlikely to affect them. Meanwhile, nearly half (44 percent) of death row inmates are African American.
"When a black thinks about an innocent person being executed, it's 'by the grace of God, that wasn't me,'" said Unnever, a sociology professor at Radford University in Virginia.
The authors concluded that an execution of an innocent person would erode, but not erase, national support for the death penalty — which stood at 66 percent in 2000, according to Gallup.
Additionally, they suggested that more than half of the nation will continue to support capital punishment unless Americans come to see wrongful executions as an unavoidable and recurring flaw in the criminal justice system.
No system is perfect. The polls shows that the majority of Americans understand that, but still think our justice system is doing a great job.
So the justification for the death penalty is what exactly?
wow, you know this article reminds me of that movie The Life of David Gale(i think was the le)...a great movie about this very argument, highly recommended!!
That was a great movie. Kevin Spacey is awesome.
I believe there are crimes in which death is a fitting punishment.
I think I'm going to take a break from this one.
I'll probably see you guys around page 6 or 7.
To me, the death penalty in theory is fine. There is nothing morally wrong with the concept of executing somebody for certain egregious crimes.
But the devil is in the details.
So they don't kill again when they get out? It has happened, and probably more often than a bogus execution. It's not a deterrent to others, but certainly deters THAT killer from killing again.So the justification for the death penalty is what exactly?
The death penalty is a sentence that cannot be reversed or appealed after it is carried out. One can always be released from a life sentence.
The act is lewd, crude...outrageous!!
In a nuts :
I have been climbing down the fence on this issue over the last several months, and must say that I am now against the death penalty, with some caveats.
I am saddened that prisons have become so damned soft. Sending a rapist/murderer away for life in an ins ution with a complete array of creature comforts is an abomination. Period. It's disgusting how criminals are pampered in prison.
I understand all the arguements for the death penalty, and on many levels I agree with those arguements, primarily the death penalty as a deterrent. But it's just not in me anymore.
I don't think prisons today are that comfortable.
Too comfortable for the worst of criminals, the rapist/murderers. Those currently eligible for the death penalty. Way too comfortable. Cable, three hots and a cot, leisure activities...
that's too much comfort for my tastes, but hey, to each his own.
there are casualties of war....innocent people die all the time....i was happy to hear our President speak on the issue in the state of the union....
Because one of the main sources of our national unity is our belief in equal justice, we need to make sure Americans of all races and backgrounds have confidence in the system that provides justice. In America we must make doubly sure no person is held to account for a crime he or she did not commit -- so we are dramatically expanding the use of DNA evidence to prevent wrongful conviction. Soon I will send to Congress a proposal to fund special training for defense counsel in capital cases, because people on trial for their lives must have competent lawyers by their side.
When was the last time you were in a prison?
Never been, but have seen plenty reports on the subject.
What do you think is a just sentance for a rapist/murderer?
Life in prison, and I agree that prison is much to comfortable at times.
From what I understand, the anal rape is not very comfortable.
"American Me" scared the of out me.
Many hombres were strung up and given the death penalty without a trial back in the old west and I'm sure many were innocent.
In today's age of DNA this should not be the case.
My thoughts on the death penalty:
I believe in the death penalty. It just has to be done right. There has to be no doubt of the mans/womans guily. I feel there are certain crimes which warrant the death penalty. For example murder, mass murder (ie 9/11/01), etc. But I also think some crimes that are not murder, yes you read that right, warrant the death penalty as well. For example, a guy here, I think his name was darrin smith or something like that, brutally raped several woman. He also kidnapped and brutally raped several young girls between the ages of 6-8. He also videotaped those evil acts. Police, and others who had to view the tapes, said they where horrible. One judge said something to the effect of in his over 20 years in his field, that he had never seen something that awful. The girls where crying, screaming, and calling out for their mommies while this asshole was raping them. Their lives were ruined! Now if someone can see that, and not support the death penalty, I dont understand their viewpoint on justice. The guy was sentenced to over 108 yrs in prison. I personally think he shoulda got the death penalty. But thats just me.
exactly... death penalty all the way for a guy like this.
david gale was not innocent. he was an accomplice to the woman's murder.
What would the death penalty accomplish in that case that life in prison would fail to accomplish?
Do you really think any single serial pedophile rapist would suddenly change their ways as a result of his execution?
i have a friend who works at a prison. it is a minimum security federal prison. they still have rapists there and murderers. the prison has softball tournaments and other functions with teams from both the civilian and prison population playing against each other...
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