You will never know, executed people are per definition considered guilty, no new evidence are considered after an execution no matter how strong.

http://www.justicedenied.org/executed.htm
The system needs to change so that innocently executed can be identified. I considered all innocently executed to be murder victims and these murder cases should be dealt with the same way as all other murder cases, including punishment. Put an innocent on Death Row and you should be sent there yourself, that would be an improvement. Further, put an innocent in prison and you should serve the same time as they did before being released. Automatic life sentences for those whose victims die in prison, even if they are killed by another prisoner the first day. Don't prosecute if you think that they are guilty, prosecute if you know.

This should illustrate just how strongly I feel that people should be protected from being punished for something they are innocent of.

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Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he doesn't become a monster.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Here, here. Finally, someone with some sense.

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lambaste me not

[quote="I-Neo-Con";p="25360"]The people you are asking about who are innocent could indeed be without finances to afford a proper attorney. Lets say for instance they were picked up because they fit the description of a killer. They have no real alliby as they were just sitting at home with no job. They are given a public defender who may or may not care about the case that much and will not really do the research to find viable evidence against the prosecutions case. Also lets say that they may not be good at the appeals process and before you know it the case is closed and the person is convicted- put to death and everyone forgets about it because it was just some poor guy in the suburbs who nobody really knew. What about those cases? That is still an innocent man put to death because he fit the description. Eyewitness reports go a long way in court and with no alliby you are screwed. What if this guy was you. Wouldn't you want a chance to live.

Besides that, why is it so bad to let a convict rot in jail. I for one think that killing the guy is letting them off easy...can you imagine having to sit in a dark damp cell for the rest of your life. It is not morally right to kill someone for any reason, even if it is for revenge or punishment. I guess Bush isn't so high and mighty when it comes to his morals on the death penalty is he, but don't let the gays marry, that would be bad for America!?

P.S. Not all murder cases are won based on DNA evidence, in fact as I stated above, a lot are won based on credible eye witness reports. Everyone wants to be the one to point out and say..."that's the guy". Even Bush was wrong...he pointed at Saddam and said..."that's the guy, take him out. (in reference to 9/11 and WMD)

Not many people in this thread havemuch compassion when it comes to those things, even though they are happening (as we find out) more often than we think. People on this thread are rendering themselves voluntarily blind to the fatal inacuracy of our legal system because they get a false sense of security by knowing that at least someone is being punished innocent or not.

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lambaste me not

I'm with you as well powergrid. It's beyond me how people can be so heartless as to be ok with even ONE CASE of false execution ever occurring. I guess since such victims are usually uneducated, lower class, society's "forgotten" anyway, it doesn't seem to matter much. ... Pathetic.

Niceguy - that's a very interesting concept you have. I watched a bit of NYPD 24/7 last night (reality-based), and in it this one cop happened to be processing a murder suspect while telling the camera the guy didn't really fit the profile for who they were after - and how the guy's life would be ruined if he were wrongfully convicted ... all the while with a big fat smile on his face (the COP!).

There really does need to be accountability in these wrongful convictions, however rare they might be (I suspect not as rare as we'd like to think). Some real CONSEQUENCES for the prosecution, not just a huge settlement that only costs taxpayers and doesn't really effect those directly responsible at all. I mean, a cop will face consequences for crossing the line with simple excessive force - why shouldn't a prosecutor for ruining (possibly ending) an innocent's life?

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"The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution."

- JFK

The death penalty is just, murderers get their just desserts.

Until the day that I am able to sit there and watch a human being be executed (and watch him beg, cry, and who knows what else and die) and then still be able to walk away feeling justified than I cannot advocate the death penalty. I am not saying that I don't believe that there are criminals that deserve to die, b/c I do. I just don't believe I could send them there without being man enough to be there when it happens.

-Demosthenes

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"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Before we talk to much about the victims of the system who get wrongly accused, lets also talk about the victims of the criminals who are released over a technicality or released early.

If nothing else, lets do a scientific study so we can get a good headcount. Then we can ask people if one wrongfully convicted murder is worth 4 new murders. We can ask if a wrongfully convicted child molester is worth 8 new victims. Personally this math works for me. If enough innocents can be protected by a system that sometimes wrongfully accuses someone, then I can live with it.

You see where this is going. Advocating a harsh system of punishment is more than just talking about revenge. Its also about descreasing the number of new victims.

Something to think about.

Eye - for -an eye. Life for a life. Simple as that.