Death Penalty

Good day, good people.

When made aware of man’s inhumanity to man, indifference and silence are the greater crimes. The innocent who are imprisoned for crimes they did not commit suffer the loss of their precious freedom, dignity and it is a moral injury. Money cannot compensate for this injustice.

On 6 November 2012 the voters in California will have an opportunity to abolish or retain the death penalty. If the death penalty is abolished, the maximum penalty would be a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The issues for consideration are the high cost of maintaining death-row prisoners, executing people who have been sent to death row and executing the innocent. And, is it a deterrent?

For devotees of the English language: Incommensurable is an adjective. It means lacking a common measure or common quality upon which to make a comparison.

A 2011 report by a senior Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge, Arthur Alarcon, and Paula Mitchell, an adjunct law professor at Loyola Law School, stated the death penalty had cost the State of California four billion dollars since 1978. The California Legislative Analyst Office said repealing the law would save one million a year and later it would become one hundred and thirty million a year.

James A. Ardaiz, a former prosecutor and judge, said, “Would there have been more murders in California without its deterrent effect? That’s a hard question to answer with certainty, of course, but there has been considerable research to suggest the death penalty is a significant deterrent.”

The proponents of the death penalty believe retribution is society’s need for closure and the rights of the victims and their loved ones.

There is no way to determine how many lives are saved because of the death penalty. But the proponents believe the greater severity of punishment reduces crime and victimization, but it is an incommensurable effect.

The opponents of the death penalty believe as an alternative, the solving of socioeconomic issues would serve the communities better. More jobs, reducing demand for illegal drugs, drug abuse, more police officers on the streets and longer sentences would be more effective than execution.

States without the death penalty have a lower murder rate. States with the death penalty, Texas and the southern states, have eighty percent of the executions and the highest number of murders. The Western European countries do not have the death penalty. Yet the murder rate in the U.S. is five times higher.

Ninety percent of the world’s executions are carried out by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Iran and China. The Death Penalty Information Center stated one hundred and forty-one people have been released from prison and from their death sentences because they were determined to be not guilty. Three innocent men were released from prison in California in 2011.

Many religious organizations also oppose the death penalty including the Presbyterian Church USA, Catholic Church, United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church and Reform Judaism.

The death penalty appears to be exceedingly biased toward and imposed on the poor, minorities and the mentally diminished people. Black homicide victims are six times those of whites. More than seventy-five percent of death penalty cases involve white victims. There appears to be discrimination in the justice system.

According to the Innocence Project, there are twenty thousand innocent inmates in prison in any given year in the United States. The reason is: dangerously-flawed forensic science. Some of these people are on death row. Forensic science does not have the rigors, the standards, the quality controls and procedures which are found in science. The forensic evidence-science which is admitted today during a trial has no sound-scientific foundation. The only scientifically sound forensic evidence when properly analyzed which should be used in a court of law is DNA.

All of the following below do not have any scientifically sound forensic evidence for their admissibility in a court of law. It is more art than science. And yet more than fifty percent of wrongful convictions are a result of improperly admitting and handling of forensic science. Which means the guilty party is not convicted, but the innocent person is. The worst evidence of all is eyewitness or informant testimony without corroboration.

• Ballistics
• Bite Marks
• Blood Splatter Analysis
• Fingerprints
• Footwear Impressions
• Hair Analysis
• Handwriting Comparison
• Tool Marks

The Honorable Harry T. Edwards is a Senior Circuit Judge and Chief Judge Emeritus of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He is a visiting Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law and has been for nineteen years. He testified before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate. The subject was: The Need to Strengthen Forensic Science in the United States: The National Academy of Science’s Report on a Path Forward.

He appeared in his capacity as the co-chair of the Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community at the National Academy of Sciences. The Committee issued a report entitled “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward.”

Judge Edwards said, “The truth is that the manner in which forensic evidence is presented on television — as invariably conclusive and final — does not correspond with reality.” “. . . no forensic method had been rigorously shown to have the capacity to consistently, and with a high degree of certainty, demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific individual or source.”

The report states: “. . . reliable methodologies that enable the accurate analysis of evidence and reporting of results, and practices that minimize the risk of results being dependent on subjective judgments of tainted by error or the threat of bias.”

“ . . . what is needed is a massive overhaul of the forensic science system in the United States, both to improve the scientific research supporting the disciplines and to improve the practices of the forensic science community.”

What is your thought on the contribution the death penalty can or cannot make to the betterment of our society?

I hope this article will give you something to consider and discuss. To be successful you must understand other people’s opinions and care about them.

I care about your opinion. Contacting me with comments and constructive criticisms at Daniel McNeet with honesty and pleasantness their constant companions will always be welcomed.

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