RE: Death Penalty
March 24, 2009 at 7:01 am
(This post was last modified: March 24, 2009 at 7:02 am by Oldandeasilyconfused.)
@Kyu
Excellent post,I agree for the most part.
I do not support the death penalty on pragmatic grounds. The most basic is my conviction (sorry) that as long as we have an adversarial legal system justice will always be a happy accident rather than the norm--especially when so many people have the naive idea that the US 5th amendment or its equivalent is there to protect the guilty and that it's OK to talk to the police without a lawyer.:Neither is true.
The flaws inherent in the system have been graphically illustrated in the number of US death row inmates whose convictions have been found to be unsafe due DNA evidence. IF the system worked as intended,unsafe convictions would be rare.They are not.
Your experience on a jury echoes that reported by my mother when she sat on a rape case.
If you haven't seen it, I recommend "Pierrepoint" about Albert Peirrepoint,Britain's last hangman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierrepoint_(film)
I also recommend the Youtube clip linked below; "Don't talk to cops" part 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik
Excellent post,I agree for the most part.
I do not support the death penalty on pragmatic grounds. The most basic is my conviction (sorry) that as long as we have an adversarial legal system justice will always be a happy accident rather than the norm--especially when so many people have the naive idea that the US 5th amendment or its equivalent is there to protect the guilty and that it's OK to talk to the police without a lawyer.:Neither is true.
The flaws inherent in the system have been graphically illustrated in the number of US death row inmates whose convictions have been found to be unsafe due DNA evidence. IF the system worked as intended,unsafe convictions would be rare.They are not.
Your experience on a jury echoes that reported by my mother when she sat on a rape case.
If you haven't seen it, I recommend "Pierrepoint" about Albert Peirrepoint,Britain's last hangman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierrepoint_(film)
I also recommend the Youtube clip linked below; "Don't talk to cops" part 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik
