... 12/14/15 Using DNA to Prove the Innocence of Death Row Inmates How has DNA evidence helped to identify innocent people on death row? DNA is a key factor in validating or invalidating the prosecutor or defendants case against the accused. This topic raises the question of how many people on death row are really meant to be there and how many are actually innocent. Before DNA evidence became more advanced most people were identified by eye witness accounts. With out further looking into cases of people on death row who had been accused during this less advanced stage in forensics some of them may be innocent people being put to death for a crime they did not commit. According to C. Ronald...
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...throughout the decade have been wrongfully accused and convicted of a crime that they did not commit. The United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, admits that statistically 8 to 12 percent of all state prisoners are either actually or factually innocent. * Patrick Waller- He lost 16 years of his life. Cleared by DNA evidence and set free July 3rd 2008. * Tim Brian Cole- He lost 25 years of his life. Cole died in prison on December 2nd 1999, during an asthma attack. He was later cleared by DNA evidence. * Kerry Max Cook- He lost 22 years of his life. Two decades on death row, was released due to DNA evidence in 1999. * Earl Washington- He lost 10 years of his life. On death row, later cleared by DNA evidence in 1999. These are just 4 out of 100 people that are wrongfully convicted of a crime. We are set out to believe that the Justice System is fair. What if we are wrong! What is fair of taking years of someone’s life? Especially someone that is innocent… In the U.S., as of September 2011, 273 people including 17 death row inmates, have been exonerated by use of DNA tests. The increasing use of DNA testing to help confirm the innocence or guilt in capital cases is one among many reforms that will help ensure that innocent people are not...
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...Professor Roth Whitehead 1 A Moratorium on The Death Penalty Should Be Enacted In Illinois Due to the recent releases of newly exonerated Death Row inmates, individuals and organizations are calling for a moratorium- a cooling off period for state executions. The cases of just a few inmates makes it apparent that this would be a necessary step to save innocent lives. After 17 years in prison, Illinois Death Row inmate Anthony Porter was released from jail after a judge threw out his murder conviction following the introduction of new evidence. This reversal of fortune came just two days before Porter was to be executed. As reported in USA Today, Porter's release was the result of investigative research as conducted by a Northwestern University professor and students. The evidence gathered suggested that Porter had been wrongly convicted. Were these new revelations and the subsequent release of Porter a lucky break or a freak occurrence? Not likely, reports DeWayne Wickham, also of USA Today. He points out that since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, of those sentenced to death, 490 people have been executed while 76 have been freed from Death Row. This calculates into one innocent person being released from Death Row for every six individuals that were executed. This figure correlates with the 1996 U.S. Department of Justice report that indicates that over a 7-year period, beginning in 1989, when DNA evidence in various cases was tested, 26% of...
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...The death penalty should be used in this country. Some of my reasons are closure for the victims’ families. The long appeals process and the suffering of the victims. From the article it gives this example Nearly 18 years ago, David Brewer called up Sherry Byrne and lured her to a motel. He raped her, then stuffed her in the trunk of his car where she was trapped for 10 hours, bound and gagged with wire and duct tape. She made a "Help Me" sign with lipstick, and several motorists saw it sticking out of the trunk and reported it to police. But Brewer drove her to a secluded farm lane. He strangled her with a necktie, broke her neck, stabbed her 14 times and slit her throat, then stuffed the body back in his trunk and drove home to his wife. Now he sits on death row, where he belongs. After 18 years of appeals, the Supreme Court has rejected his case. Some law students want the case looked at again even after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal. Here are the facts that convicted him Mr. Byrne, now a New Jersey accounting executive, grew up in southwest Ohio and worked at the Chiquita Center on the day his wife of seven months was murdered. "Sherry called me at 10:15 a.m. at my office in downtown Cincinnati to excitedly relay that a friend of ours, and my college fraternity `Big Brother,' David Brewer, had just called her and invited her to come and see him and his wife, Cathy, at a motel near our home in Springdale," he recalled. Sherry took along her puppy, "Bo." Brewer...
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...Death Penalty In The United States Many Americans identify issues with the death penalty and the ethical responsibility of American jurors. Individuals who oppose the death penalty often argue that Americans have a responsibility to be merciful and often suggest that death penalty supporters have a thirst for vengeance. Some arguments use bold approaches that intend to guilt their audiences and suggest that America should not have the control to choose whether an individual lives or dies. Death penalty policies have flaws that need to be amended to ensure that justice is assured to each individual at its mercy. In 1972 the Supreme Court opposed the death penalty, only to reinstate it in the 1976 (govspot.com). Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the Supreme Court has tried to make clear that it is to be applied carefully and evenhandedly. America has for centuries prided on the fact that citizens are allowed to make and execute laws lobbied for the popular consensus. If upstanding citizens are to be asked to participate in Jury’s, which are burdened with the decision of ordering another human being to death, it is imperative that evidence presented is valid and credible. Unfortunately, cases of incompetent defense, suppression of evidence, local prejudice and other affronts to justice continue to surface. In all capital cases, jurors are required to first convict the defendant, then assess separate aggravating factors presented by the state that...
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...Death Penalty Imagine yourself as a mother sitting by the window, looking at the swing set in your backyard, remembering memories of your son, an accused murdered now facing the death penalty. You know there must be some mistake. You cannot understand how your son could ever do something so terrible. Imagine yourself next as a father whose daughter was brutally murdered, and whose killer has been sentenced to the death penalty. You desire to push the button that sends the lethal drugs flowing through his veins. The death penalty has been the cause of many emotional, political and ethical debates since its inception. At what point do we as human beings agree or disagree with the Death Penalty if the victim or the offender is a family member? Should the Death Penalty still exist or should we keep offenders on Death Row for life to rehabilitate them? With the Death Penalty in America dating back to Jamestown Virginia in 1608 with the first recorded execution of Captain George Kendall, the question that remains today is, should the Death Penalty be legal? With the Death Penalty still in effect in 34 states, this raises the question, if violent crimes are down in the states that don’t have the Death Penalty why is it still in existence? When an offender commits a violent crime, it is the responsibility of our government to punish the offender, and keep the rest of us safe. There are many factors the government has to consider when sentencing a...
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...Code shall suffer death or be imprisoned for life” (Chapter 2929: PENALTIES AND SENTENCING, 2012) I was a young girl around the age of 6 when I saw a man I recognized on the television with a caption saying he had been arrested for murder. Kenneth Biros was charged with the February 1991 death of Tami Engstrom (Urbina, 2012). I never thought that a man my parents had been friends with would be involved is such a violent offence that would change the way the State of Ohio carried out executions (Urbina, 2012). In the 2009 execution of Kenneth Biros, Ohio became the first state to use a single injection for lethal injection punishment (Did You Know? , 2012) as a backup method. The Biros execution is followed by 16 others as of November 13th 2012 according to the Ohio Department of Corrections (Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, 2012). Whether you support the death penalty or not, it can be a very sensitive subject in many different aspects. Look at the cost of a trial. According to research done in 2008, the cost of a case including imprisonment in the state of Maryland was $1.1 million if the death penalty was not sought. The cost if the death penalty is pursued increased to approximately $3 million. (Roman, Chalfin, Sundquist, Knight, & Darmenov, 2012) Breakthroughs in DNA evidence has lead to the pardoning of some convicted murderers that would have otherwise been sent to death. Ray Krone was released from Arizona prison in 2002 after DNA evidence proved...
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...Since 1973 over 130 people have been released from death row due to wrongful convictions, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. If you take into account; the multiple decades that many innocent people have sat behind bars awaiting their execution and add in the billions of dollars spent above what non-death penalty cases cost, the benefits of abolishing the death penalty outweighs the risk. Most of those, who oppose abolishing the death penalty, also feel there should be much higher standards for those who are eligible for capital punishment, however, there is no way to increase the maximum penalty for someone after they are convicted of a Capital crime. The most plausible way to prevent wrongful death penalty convictions is to abolish the death penalty completely. If we eliminate capital punishment, then we also eliminate the possibility of potentially taking an innocent life, it will also save millions of dollars every year in almost every state that still uses capital punishment, as well as save the many victims of the death penalty. It doesn't only effect those who are accused of the crime but also their; parents, children, spouses, friends ect. The cost of the death penalty is a major reason it should be abolished. The cost begins with the original trial. Jury selection alone can take over a month and there is extensive questioning about views on the death penalty to look for any bias that may become a factor in how they vote after the trial. They will...
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...Impact of Death Row on the Correction System Name Task Date Abstract When an individual is found guilty of a criminal offense and consequently sentenced to death, the individual is held in death row pending any habeas corpus or appeals, and if these fail, until the convict is convicted. Those opposed to capital punishment have contended that the isolation of a convict and the uneasiness over his or her destiny constitutes a kind of mental depravity and that long-term death row convicts are particularly prone to become mentally unstable. This condition is commonly known as death row phenomenon. In severe cases, some convicts may try committing suicide. Issues relating to the administration of capital punishment are vast and varied. Often, talk about the use of death penalty concentrates more on sentimental arguments pertaining to the moral issue emanating from the administration of death penalty. This paper attempts to study the issues that surround capital punishment by making use of the system analysis approach. It shall endeavor to explore the dehumanizing effects brought about by the recommencement of capital punishment. While there are no clear-cut answers regarding the matter of capital punishment and death sentence, this paper will attempt to shed more light on the normally intricate social issue. Impact of Death Row on the Correction System In June 1972 in a case concerning Furman v. Georgia brought before the U.S. Supreme Court, the court...
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...Evolution of the Death Penalty in the United States Ethics of Judiciary and Sociology of Criminal Law The history of the death penalty is tumultuous, from the punishment being initiated to abolished, and then reinstated. The death penalty, initiated in the United States in 1622, continues to be exploited by 32 states, regardless of its integrity and use to discourage people from committing serious crimes. It is now being eroded again and the abolition of the death penalty seems to be inevitable. One problem with the death penalty is that it has been shown that many people have been executed when they have not committed the crime. Since 1973, hundreds of innocent people have been released from death row, after the evidence that sentenced them to death was found to be inaccurate. Many of these innocent people were victims of wrongful convictions based on confused witnesses, mistakes by lawyers and inaccurate forensics, while the person actually responsible for the crime was still free. Cases involving DNA evidence in court, such as Ray Krone's case, can be denied access even if life and death are on the ropes. Found guilty, Krone was sentenced to death for rape and murder in Arizona, even though DNA found on the victim did not correlate with his. Arizona argued that no submission of DNA evidence could interfere with the jury decision. A decade later, without a court order, a crime lab worker identified the person who actually committed the crime through DNA evidence, and...
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...just waiting to strike again. However, if someone asked what your thought is on the death penalty, most would probably say that they are against it that is until a family member or someone you love is walking down the street and that man who was looking for their next victim found them. It was a family member and you will never see them again. Capital punishment has been a topic of debate for a very long time and it still has no certain solution. The Supreme Court, in 1972 said that it was unconstitutional and had made it legal after the Furman v. Georgia case. They said that it was in violation of our eighth and fourteenth amendment citing cruel and unusual punishment (Shaw, 2001). They then reinstated the death penalty after the Gregg v. Georgia case in 1976 (Shaw, 2001). As of September 2010, fifteen states that do not have the death penalty ("Death penalty information center," 2010.) Today about seventy percent of Americans who support the death penalty (The pros and cons of the death penalty in the USA, 2011). While thirty percent are against the death penalty (The pros and cons of the death penalty in the USA, 2011). When seeking the death penalty, it is something not done very often and it not taken very lightly. The reason is because the cost it accrued overtime A typical death row trial usually goes as follows: The District Attorney’s office will seek the death penalty in cases they feel it is the appropriate punishment. The case will be in front...
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...Pros and Cons of Death Penalty Does the execution of a murderer serve justice for all? One of the most controversial topics in the world today not only deals with the death penalty, also known as capital punishment, but whether it should be abolished or not . While some believe that the death penalty is “cruel and unusual punishment” violating the 8th amendment of the United States Constitution, others argue that “an eye for an eye” does justice. Thirty-four different states support this type of punishment including Oklahoma, leaving fifteen states that do not. According to Newport and the Gallup Polls, as of May 2007, “sixty-six percent of Americans -- almost the same percentage that supports the death penalty” consider the death penalty “morally acceptable.” Only twenty-seven percent of people believe the death penalty is morally wrong. Some say that the “legality in the United States is critically undermining American moral stature around the world (Ballaro & Cushman)." The death penalty is a very emotional, complex, and rather complicated matter that includes, but not limited to, the argument of the pros and cons as well as the fact that some convicted people whether executed or not are then later freed from guilt and blame (exonerated). There are many different pros of the death penalty, but I have chosen to only discuss a few of the most controversial topics. Supporters of death penalty believe that “[j]ustice is only achieved when a crime is met with the proper punishment...
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...The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "The Innocent Man" redirects here. For a South Korean television series, see The Innocent Man (TV series). The Innocent Man | | Author(s) | John Grisham | Country | United States | Publisher | Doubleday | Publication date | October 10, 2006 | Pages | 368 | ISBN | 978-0-385-51723-2 | OCLC Number | 70251230 | The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (2006) is a nonfiction book written by John Grisham, and his first outside the legal fiction genre. The book tells the story of Ronald 'Ron' Keith Williamson of Ada, Oklahoma, a former minor league baseball player who was wrongly convicted in 1988 for the rape and murder of Debra Sue Carter in Ada and was sentenced to death. After serving 11 years on death row, he was exonerated by DNA evidence and other material introduced by the Innocence Project and was released in 1999. Contents * 1 Synopsis * 2 Book edition * 3 References * 4 External links | Synopsis Ron Williamson has returned to his hometown of Ada, Oklahoma after multiple failed attempts to play for various minor league baseball teams, including the Fort Lauderdale Yankees and two farm teams owned by the Oakland A's. An elbow injury inhibited his chances to progress. His big dreams were not enough to overcome the odds (less than 10 percent) of making it to a big league game. His failures lead to, or aggravate...
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...Death Penalty In today judicial system, many criminals are getting away with very little or no punishment for the crimes they are committing. You could be walking down the street in your very own neighborhood looking for their next victim and you do not even realize it. These criminals have no remorse on what they do; they are just waiting to strike again. However, if someone asked what your thought is on the death penalty, most would probably say that they are against it that is until a family member or someone you love is walking down the street and that man who was looking for their next victim found them. It was a family member and you will never see them again. Capital punishment has been a topic of debate for a very long time and it still has no certain solution. The Supreme Court, in 1972 said that it was unconstitutional and had made it legal after the Furman v. Georgia case. They said that it was in violation of our eighth and fourteenth amendment citing cruel and unusual punishment (Shaw, 2001). They then reinstated the death penalty after the Gregg v. Georgia case in 1976 (Shaw, 2001). As of September 2010, fifteen states that do not have the death penalty ("Death penalty information center," 2010.) Today about seventy percent of Americans who support the death penalty (The pros and cons of the death penalty in the USA, 2011). While thirty percent are against the death penalty (The pros and cons of the death penalty in the USA, 2011). When seeking the...
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...Is The Death Penalty Justified? Narisha T. Carr-Smalls PHI200: Mind and Machine Instructor: Elliott Crozat July 4, 2012 Is The Death Penalty Justified? How would we define Capital punishment? It is the death penalty. “Capital punishment is the execution of a person by the state as punishment for a crime. The word ‘capital’ comes from the Latin word ‘capitalis,’ which means ‘regarding the head.’ At one point and time capital crimes where punished by severing the head. Crimes that can result in the death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offenses. Capital punishment has been used in societies throughout history as a way to punish crime and suppress political dissent. In most places that practice capital punishment today, the death penalty is reserved as punishment for premeditated murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In some countries sexual crimes, such as rape, adultery and sodomy, carry the death penalty, as do religious crimes such as apostasy (the formal renunciation of the State religion). In many retentions countries (Countries that use the death penalty), drug trafficking is also a capital offense. In China human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are also punished by the death penalty (Debatepedia, 2011).” Capital punishment was used throughout history and still used today for a variety of offenses. The death penalty was even utilized biblically for crimes such as murder, kidnapping, and even witchcraft...
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