My America

[Cogwell]

Originally Posted by Alawen Everywhere [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

There were 52 executions in America in 2009. There is an extensive appeal process and very few cases of alleged wrongful execution. This is not one of our major issues. Most Americans approve of capital punishment and this is a democracy.

1 of those 52 was fairly widely covered recently as a (by all outward appearances) innocent man. He was in Texas, of course, and was convicted of killing his 2 (?) young daughters by burning his own home. In hindsight, the state of Texas used extremely outdated and incorrect data and assumptions on how fires are started and spread in its investigation through which he was convicted, the man was a very loving father according to all who knew him, and went to his grave protesting his innocence.

If you feel that a 2% wrongful conviction rate is fine (and judging by releases through DNA evidence in recent years, that number is probably a lowball estimate), then consider the cost to taxpayers to execute as opposed to live imprisonment, and you have to come to the conclusion that it is only "not one of our major issues" because the media is too busy freaking out about some white girl that got killed to actually cover our judicial system in any meaningful manner.