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Originally Posted by motordavid
put that 1/4% of the innocent poor bastards to death unjustly
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It's much much higher than 1/4%.
Death Sentences Being Overturned in 2 of 3 Appeals
June 12, 2000
Reversals Are Attributed to Errors by Defense Lawyers, Police and Prosecutors
The most far-reaching study of the death penalty in the United States has found that two out of three sentences were overturned on appeal, mostly because of serious errors by incompetent defense lawyers or overzealous police officers and prosecutors who withheld evidence.
The study, an examination of appeals in all capital cases from the time the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, in 1976, to 1995, also found that 75 percent of the people whose death sentences were set aside were later given lesser sentences after retrials, in plea bargains or by order of a judge. An additional 7 percent were found not guilty on retrial.
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So between 1976 and 1995 (20 year period), 7% of those who were sentenced to death were found not guilty of murder after a later appeal.
Are you comfortable with executing murderers if it means that 7 out of every 100 that are executed are actually innocent of the crime?