I don't know if Troy Davis was innocent, but I do know that the evidence for demanding a re-examination of his conviction, including the recanted testimony of most of the witnesses against him, was overwhelming. But of course that is now beside the point, which is exactly what is so wrong about the use of the death penalty. No matter what evidence of innocence might be produced in the future, it is of consequence no longer.
That is a compelling argument against the death penalty -- no room for correction -- but there are others. The most egregious argument for capital punishment is the claim that the finality of officially condoned killing is a necessary guarantor of civilized order. Egregious because it is not possible to make that case without explaining why most of the democratic societies that we admire shun the death penalty as contrary to their most deeply held values.
Or is it China, Iran, North Korea and Yemen, which, along with the United States, led the world in government executions, that we most admire? There is something stunningly disgraceful about the company we keep on this issue.
As Amnesty International -- the world's premier human rights organization, which deserves high marks for its anti-death penalty campaign -- points out, more than two-thirds of the world's nations have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. I defy anyone to compare the list of countries that have retained the death penalty with those that have abolished it and then conclude that it serves a needed purpose.
It is obvious from the experience of those nations without the death penalty and our own 17 states that have banned capital punishment that this barbaric custom is not a necessary, let alone efficient, means for ensuring public safety. Due process in the United States, which claims to have an enlightened legal system, requires death penalty procedures that are costlier than appropriate incarceration.
Governments that cling to this primitive ritual of state-sanctioned murder do so not to induce respect for law but rather to indulge a lust for vengeance. Toward that end it would be far more honest to have the bound prisoner stoned to death by the governors, state legislators, prosecutors and judges who support the death penalty rather than employing lethal injections by disengaged technicians. Forcing them to be the executioners in actual practice rather than as a matter of legal theory would compel a far greater sense of personal responsibility than politicians and some others tend to exhibit on the matter.
From my own experience as a journalist covering this issue, the vast majority of politicians who defend capital punishment do so out of rank opportunism, which they demonstrate, particularly when the conversation is off the record, by citing polling numbers rather than evidence of the death penalty as a capital crime deterrent.
As I waited for the news of Troy Davis' fate, my thoughts kept returning to that day in 1960 when we Berkeley students picketed the California governor's office in pleading for a stay in the execution of convicted rapist Caryl Chessman, who was never accused of murder. It didn't come because Gov. Pat Brown, despite his deep reservations about the case, had succumbed to public opinion. I never imagined then that more than half a century later the death penalty would still be enforced. That it is mocks our claim to be a moral leader in this world.
It is appropriate that we grieve for the slain police officer, Mark MacPhail, but if Davis was not the one with the gun, as he claimed to the end, the true murderer will have gone unpunished, as suggested by Davis' haunting plea to the MacPhail family minutes before he died: "I did not personally kill your son, father, brother. All I can ask is that you look deeper into this case so you really can finally see the truth."
Execution is a means of summarily ending the pursuit of justice rather than advancing it.
This case was so freighted with contradictions that a stay of execution was clearly in order. As Amnesty International spokesperson Laura Moye stated: "Today Georgia didn't just kill Troy Davis, they killed the faith and confidence that many Georgians, Americans, and Troy Davis supporters worldwide used to have in our criminal justice system."
Troy Davis executed, supporters cry injustice
Troy Davis Dies by Lethal Injection
Troy Davis's sister: Standing for my brother
Troy Davis Executed After Last-Ditch Appeal Fails
Troy Davis, from gurney, proclaims innocence before execution
Troy Davis: US Execution Rate Pales in Comparison to Iran, China
But speaking of murder, any nation who could lie itself into attacking Iraq is capable of anything.
The world watches us with trepidation, always one eye open.
Personally, I think prisoners should be made to perform manual labor. They should work 8 hours a day. In their spare time they can read or pursue educational goals. What they shouldn't do is hang out like they're at home, watching tv, visiting their friends and getting in fights with their enemies.
To be a supporter of the death penalty without conscience, then you must believe the US Justice system, a GOVERNMENT bureaucracy, is perfect and infallible.
If you don't believe in the perfection of justice, but still cheer executions, then you have a huge gap in your moral credibility.
Anyone with a grain of intelligence knows that, on occasion, innocent people are convicted and guilty people are freed.
Apparently you just made that discovery.
The death penalty is NOT a detterent, it is NOT applied equally, it is NOT fixable if a mistake is made, it's merely vengence, a very negative emotional response.
The greatest hazard to the American People is the corrupt and dysfunctional American "justice" Industry.
Remember him?
He's the guy who dragged James Byrd to his death behind his truck.
Could skin color have a bit to do with it?
Question. ANY doubt whatsoever that Brewer was guilty?
Did a former FBI cheif under 3 presidents call for a stay of execution and reexamination of the evidence against Brewer?
Did any witnesses in Brewers case change their testimony?
Did any jurors in Brewers case state they would vote differently today?
Can your Tea addled brain process these clear differences?
How to explain this double standard? Oh yes, of course, one is bad for rich people, the other for poor people... How many persons executed came from rich families?
I would say it's highly efficient. Troy Davis will absolutely, positively, not be able to kill our citizens again. How can it get more efficient than that?
Or if that guy Troy Davis was convicted of shooting in the face was my father, brother, or son.
Or if that guy Troy Davis was convicted of pistol whipping was my father, brother, or son.
Your religious views may cause you to believe that human life begins at conception and that this microscopic combination of cells is the moral equivalent of a walking and talking human, and I would not challenge your right to believe this. However, believing it does not make it so.
Since you like to also make the claim of "essentially every civilization ever known to man draw a distinction between a fetus that is within 24 weeks of conception and totally incapable of living outside the womb and a fully formed independent person" please cite the factual evidence you have for this claim. And you tax claiming ability to give support for abortion, is a first. That was a stretch. But if you wish to use that, I can now claim by dog as a dependant according to your reasoning.
This article is flawed from the first paragraph. The state produced 34 eye witnesses who testified against Davis, seven later recanted. This is NOT "most of the witnesses against him". I didn't have to read any further.
Only one thing was important to the Georgia Board.
Young white woman crying=black dead man walking.
Courts (both trial and appeal) are part of the government, and yet the finality of the death penalty requires that this arm of government not only be "good" but be perfect. Unless, that is, you are comfortable with the idea of government killing innocent citizens....
So, Republican supporters of the death penalty, which is it: government CAN be perfect, or it's ok to kill innocent people?
The key verse regarding this truth is found in the Old Testament and quoted twice in the New Testament. God said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them” (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30).