Now, Here's a Stat to be Proud of...Follow

Hey, if people around here can report on their 1000th post then why should the media not report 1000 deaths.

Why?

Ever heard of the Innocence Project? http://www.innocenceproject.org/

Turns out, going back with DNA (irrefutable) evidence, many death row inmates have actually been proven innocent. More, in fact, then have actually been executed since 1978 - and recall DNA evidence has not been around that long.

I wish juries did a better job. A much, much better job, in fact. I also hope police don't coerce confessions.

My favorite story on this topic is act one from:

http://207.70.82.73/ra/210.ram

From the lead in to the story:

Act One. Hawks and Rabbits. This is the story of some teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of murder and served 15 years in prison. DNA set them free, then convicted the two men who really did the crime. Shane DuBow reports on how the police framed them with the crime in the first place, and what it's like to be in prison when you know you're innocent. (37 minutes)

and here's a act two:

Act Two. Snitch. The story of how common and perfectly legal police interrogation procedures, procedures without violence or torture, were able to get an average 14-year-old suburban kid to confess to murdering his own sister... even though DNA evidence later proved that he hadn't done the crime. (12 minutes)

If you bother to listen to Act One, you'll hear that the jury actually *had* biological evidence. The murdered woman was raped prior to death. They effectively bloodtyped the *****. It was O. *None* of the defendants are O secreters.

They were in prison for 15 years - and for a long time they wrote appeals asking for a review of this evidence. Until DNA came along and - essentially - retold what the jury had already considered (and for whatever reason thrown out), they were in prison.

While I am in no way arguing against DNA testing, I think this little factoid is wrong. If I remember correctly, according to the Innocence Project there have been more in the neighborhood of 168, and not all of them from death row. I would have to look into it though, to make sure I am correct.




Edit: The Innocence Project website. It says 163 exonerated. I am sure there have been others coming up through the appeals process without being affiliated with the project, but I doubt over 1,000.



Edited, Fri Dec 2 17:02:42 2005 by Katarine