Any calculus of our criminal justice system which concerns itself only with wrongful conviction of the innocent and the possibility of innocent people on Death Row and ignores the number of murders committed by violent predators who have been released after serving relatively short sentences or have either not been prosecuted at all or have been allowed to plea bargain because the evidence against them did not conform to contemporary standards of proof beyond reasonable doubt, is seriously deficient. [The preceding sentence was certainly not too short!] The suspect arrested in connnection with the recent rape-murder of a 12 year-old girl had served 4 1/2 years for the kidnapping and rape of an 18 year old. It is a melancholy fact that many if not most opponents of the death penalty also lack the moral courage to impose severe penalties on those who commit other violent crimes---rape, house-breaking, armed robbery and the like. Two worthies who had recently been released after serving short sentences for repeated house-breaking murdered a whole family in Connecticut while repeating the same act. The unreasonable fear of the possible wrongful incarceration for serious crimes is the death-knell of a civilized society. It is not, perhaps, without significance that the co-founder of the much praised "innocence project". Barry Scheck, was the "expert" who lied through his teeth about the DNA evidence in the O. J. Simpson case.
It is odd that Mr. Saletan chose the Ramsey case upon which to base his argument. There was never anything approaching evidence that would have caused them to be indicted, much less convicted. Their ordeal was the product of a swarm of journalistic leeches, a thuggish police department, and a clownish DA, not all that unusual in college towns. Paging Mike Nifong. In particular, no one with any sense of human nature (Mr. Saletan's specialty!) could have thought that either of them could have composed the much discussed "ransom note". Its style was a vivid portrait of a criminal psychopath worthy of an accomplished writer of crime fiction.
A tip for those who fear wrongful conviction of a crime. Avoid repeated contact with the police. This puts you near the top of their list when investigating a crime. They might be tempted to frame you for a crime you didn't commit in place of those they know you have committed but couldn't prove.

Actually it simply isn't that much of a drama to the State. States defend themselves against insurrection and rebellion of the enemy. A fine is not meant to be a State punishment or tax, but rather something that would pay a cost.

Well you clearly are impassioned about the subject of the death penalty, but your reasoning is at best muddled.

On one hand you decry the thuggishness of police departments and the over zealous prosecutors like Nifong. Yet on the other hand you decry the unwillingness of society to convict criminals of serious charges because of modern standards of "innocent beyond a reasonable doubt".

You can't have it both ways. Either we continue to be leary of the power of The State to abuse the rights of innocents accused of serious crimes, or we allow the Nifongs of the world to run unchecked. But you cannot keep the Nifongs of the world in check, while resorting to the likes of the dunking bench for determining guilt (I know you didn't suggest that, its a metaphor).

I think you also seem to forget that the definition of a "civilized society" at the time of this nation's founding, was - in Benjamin Franklin's words

it is better [one hundred] guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer

This clearly did not ignore the violence committed by the 100 guilty left free. Rather it weighed the violence that the power of the state can commit against the violence of the acts of even 100 individuals, and decided against the power of The State.

Now I would submit that we have continued to become a progressively more civilized society since that time period. We have recognized the personhood of minorities, women and even children. We have abolished racist Jim Crow, and lynchings are laregly a thing of the past. Violence is down in our nation. The evidence is clearly there that we are more civilized than ever.

Yet by your logic, we should never have gotten here, since Franklin signalled the "death knell" of civilized society back in 1785 when he "ignor[ed] the number of murders committed by violent predators who have been released".

Sorry, it doesn't hold water.

degs:

Thanks for allowing me the space not to answer this top post. You posted well to this. I now have a federal court date in October with a judge who understand the argument and the issues.

Five years have passed in waiting.

Degsme,

I agree with everything you say...

...and then I thought about the recent R. Kelly case. Imagine, a crime caught CLOSEUP on videotape--and yet a conviction wasn't made.

Of course, what that really does confirm is that some (many?) jury decisions, in EITHER DIRECTION, simply don't connect in any way to reality.

In fact, given the issues of prison over-crowding, overwhelmed courts, and insufficient numbers of judges....perhaps the most constructive thing we could do to improve the judicial/penal systems is to remove all DRUG CRIMES from the mix--and use our resources to do a better job with all other crimes.

Sorry that it has taken this long. Happy to hear that you finally have a hearing.

You'd have to re-legalize those drugs (which I have no problem with). but I think we should empty out the drug crimes.