(January 13, 2017 at 12:13 pm)Shell B Wrote: I don't see it as revenge. You can't get revenge for those kinds of things. What would you do? You can't kill a bunch of people the killer cares about. Most of the time, there are no such people. I see it as taking out the trash. Again, I'm only talking about situations where there is no doubt and the crimes are incredibly heinous. (Don't bother denying the fact that such cases exist. If we thought it was impossible to have no doubt of a person's guilt, we couldn't put anyone in jail ever.)
View it as you wish, but it still does nothing long term but satisfy your emotions. Just from a taxpayer standpoint it is not cost effective, nor is it a deterrent.
And again, this isn't about one case, beyond a reasonable doubt I have no problem with. But our reality is a long term climate, not simply about one case. It is much more humane long term to reverse a wrongful conviction than to risk a mob rule climate.
I will always stand by the principle that it is better as someone once said, "I would rather let 10 guilty go free than to convict one innocent person". Even with non murder cases a mere false accusation can ruin someone's life even if they never get convicted.
It is easy to armchair quarterback with famous cases, but our justice system, like I said, is not disconnected solely for one case. Yes beyond a reasonable doubt is fine, and if the person is convicted on facts alone they should go to prison, but even with murder our system disproportionately hurts those without the money to defend themselves, so you cannot over simplify it with one sample out of a entire history.
There was a case a few years back where a privately contracted lab in Texas illegally fudged numbers on physical evidence and falsely presented those numbers to a court to gain convictions. Because of an over zealous prosecutor. As a result, countless cases had to be overturned or thrown out, and that mentality hurt society in also keeping the guilty in prison.
We should want dangerous harmful people contained, but it is an oversimplification to make it about one case.
There is also, not talking about you but a climate in general, that exists of "If you didn't do anything wrong you have nothing to worry about". Innocent people do end up in prison. It is a mistake to ignore and you might not yourself ignore that, but many do.