The focus of the death penalty tends to be the execution of an individual who committed horrible crimes and must pay for their actions; however, what tends to be looked over and quite frankly ignored is the percentage of lives who were lost by execution but was completely innocent. This week’s readings and videos, shed light on this aspect while giving it the attention needs. For this discussion, I will examine the primary objectives within the text and movies. Then, I will conclude with my feelings towards the death penalty and if it does, in fact, hold a risk of executing innocent victims. Before we can evaluate if the death penalty carries a risk of innocent people, we must define what innocence indeed is. When it comes to the criminal
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The documentary followed Randall Adams, who was charged with shooting and killing Dallas police officer, Robert Wood. The individual who did shoot and officer wood was actually, sixteen-year-old David Harris, who met Adams when his car ran out of gas. Harris and Adams spent quite some time together that day and later on at night, Harris in a stolen car was pulled over by officer Wood. When David Harris was pulled over, he shot and killed the officer. Unfortunately, since Randall Adams was of age, he was accused of the crime and sentenced to the death penalty, although David Harris boasted about the murder around town. After 12 years, Ryan Adams was found innocent when more evidence was provided that proved his innocence. Ultimately, Adams was pardoned for the crime of murder and …show more content…
In Capital Punishment in America, Mandery found that no case that was empirically studied has yielded results in which the individual who was executed was later seen to be innocent. For instance, between the years 1973 and 1995, over 5,000 deaths within the criminal court system was analyzed in research done by Liebman, Fagan, and West, in which they found that the time spent between the sentencing and execution was nine years (Mandery, 2012, p.109). It is important to remember that a capital punishment trial is quite costly due to the intensity of the matter. During the trial, every factor and detail is thoroughly examined before an offender receives an innocent or guilty sentence. In the case that the offender does obtain a criminal conviction, the offender has the right to appeal by introducing new evidence that may prove their innocence. Therefore, the time between the trial and the years on death row spent gives ample time for a case to be studied for potential errors or mitigating factors that may have been
The documentary followed Randall Adams, who was charged with shooting and killing Dallas police officer, Robert Wood. The individual who did shoot and officer wood was actually, sixteen-year-old David Harris, who met Adams when his car ran out of gas. Harris and Adams spent quite some time together that day and later on at night, Harris in a stolen car was pulled over by officer Wood. When David Harris was pulled over, he shot and killed the officer. Unfortunately, since Randall Adams was of age, he was accused of the crime and sentenced to the death penalty, although David Harris boasted about the murder around town. After 12 years, Ryan Adams was found innocent when more evidence was provided that proved his innocence. Ultimately, Adams was pardoned for the crime of murder and …show more content…
In Capital Punishment in America, Mandery found that no case that was empirically studied has yielded results in which the individual who was executed was later seen to be innocent. For instance, between the years 1973 and 1995, over 5,000 deaths within the criminal court system was analyzed in research done by Liebman, Fagan, and West, in which they found that the time spent between the sentencing and execution was nine years (Mandery, 2012, p.109). It is important to remember that a capital punishment trial is quite costly due to the intensity of the matter. During the trial, every factor and detail is thoroughly examined before an offender receives an innocent or guilty sentence. In the case that the offender does obtain a criminal conviction, the offender has the right to appeal by introducing new evidence that may prove their innocence. Therefore, the time between the trial and the years on death row spent gives ample time for a case to be studied for potential errors or mitigating factors that may have been