As of April 16, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the death penalty, by lethal injection. With that, states are now continuing with those on death row and are sentenced to die.
I am all for the Death Penalty. Always have been. However, my view has changed a bit, and I offer up the following for your consideration.
Not long ago, Texas, and Dallas County in particular, has released a man, falsely convicted of a serious crime. The man spent some 23 years in prison, for a crime he did not commit. DNA set him free. It was primarily a "photo line-up" that convicted him. While he was not on death row, this in part is why I have changed my position, in part anyway.
Eye witnesses are notoriously inaccurate. Same can be said for other types of "circumstantial evidence", when considered without enough collaborative evidence. Most cases ARE "circumstantial", but most good cases have an abundance of it that supports but one conclusion.
My "death penalty" view has changed, in a large part, because of DNA. Dallas County has now had 16 people set free by DNA. "16" people, wrongly convicted. How would YOU like to have been one of those!
I would like to see a change in death penalty cases, and I submit the following:
1. Death Penalty sentences should be reserved for those people who are guilty beyond ALL doubt, not just "reasonable doubt". Those, like Jeffrey Dahmer, comes to mind. As does Charles Manson, a gleeful bragger of his acts, and proud of those who followed him. Or Dennis Rader, the BTK killer. Fast-tracks for all of them.
2. All such cases where ONLY "circumstantial evidence" brings about a "reasonable doubt" conviction that could warrant a death penalty, should NOT receive the "death penalty", but instead, a mandatory LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE. This way, should new evidence come into play later on, the person would still be here for a new trial, or release.
3. ALL death penalty cases, under example #1 above, should be "fast tracked" through the system, and the penalty should be carried out within 1 year after conviction. When such a conviction was obtained with NO DOUBT, supported by the evidence and confessions, then why the wait?Once judicial checks have been reviewed, then git'r done.
The above, while still not perfect, may do several things.
a. Eliminate a wrongly convicted person from being put to death by our system.
b. Keep open the possibility of a new trial for those who may have been wrongfully convicted.
c. And lastly, fast-track, keeping the long and expensive "appeals" to a minimum, the sentencing for a swifter adjudication.
Any man, or woman, who should commit such an act that would warrant the death penalty, and does so in such a manner where NO DOUBT is left as to that person's guilt (so much so, that no other possibility could exist), then such a swift death penalty could bring about a new "deterrence" for such acts.Even if it didn't, that person could never kill again, including killings of guards and other prisoners.
