Happy 1000th Execution America!

Interesting isn't it? When the Saudis behead someone for a crime, we think it's barbaric . . .yet the majority of Americans are cheerleaders for capital punishment in the U.S.A.

U.S. nears 1000th execution since 1977

Since 1973, 122 prisoners have been freed from death row. The vast majority
of those cases came during the last 15 years, since the use of DNA evidence
became widespread. While there is no official proof an innocent person has been
executed, opponents of the death penalty say the number of prisoners whose
convictions have been reversed should fuel skepticism.

"I don't think any rational person seriously examining the evidence can
have any confidence that an innocent hasn't already been executed," said
Scheck.

Using post-conviction DNA evidence, the Innocence Project has helped in
more than half of the 163 cases vacated — 14 of which were from death row.
"We've demonstrated that there are too many innocent people on death row,"
Scheck said.

But that argument does not impress Charles Rosenthal, district attorney
for Harris County, Texas, which has sent more prisoners to the death chamber —
85 — than any other U.S. county and all but two states, Texas and Virginia,
according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice statistics.

"I don't know about every death penalty case in Texas, but I feel quite
sure that no one that this office has had anything to do with was factually
innocent," Rosenthal said.

Scheck believes Rosenthal's claim is based "more on faith than fact."
He noted that the police DNA lab in Houston has been shut down since 2002
because an investigation found problems with poor training and contaminated
evidence.

"What kind of confidence can you have when the jurisdiction that
executes more people than any other is fraught with unreliable testing results?"
Scheck said.

(snip)

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On the Net:
Death Penalty Information Center:
Innocence
Project:
Throw Away the Key:
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
www.innocenceproject.org/
www.throwawaythekey.org/