Postby Jason Toddman » Fri Jun 04, 2010 4:58 pm
I agree with Nuclearo. If the evidence is so overwhelming (videotapes of the act, at least ten positive eyewitrness accounts, DNA corroboration, etc) that guilt is obvious and we're talking murder, then there should be a death penalty. But too many people have been convicted on hearsay evidence (a single person indentified them - and got it wrong!), particularly if they were non-white, and later found to be innocent. I think death penalty should be reserved only for especially heinous crimes where guilt is beyond any doubt at all (not just reasonable doubt, which apparently isn't enough) to ANY unbiased person. The standards for guilt are just too darned LOW these days, where you're practically presumed guilty until proven innocent rather than the other way around! Presumption of innocence is only a concept in courts these days; not the reality. In an atmosphere of cynicism like that, the death penalty is as evil as the crime it is meant to punish.
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