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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Deadly Punishment Part 2: Executed But Could Be Innocent. Has Justice Failed?

Charles Irvin FainThe punishment of death is sometimes thrown around just like any ordinary criminal case. There's no room to have doubt or even be the slightest amount of indecisiveness. "There is definitely no mechanism for review of guilt or innocence after someone has been killed."(Cremonesi) Justifying murder with murder is already morally wrong, but doesn't it just sicken you when the convicted person is proven to be innocent after they've already suffered the punishment? Imagine being the person on death row who's awaiting their untimely fate. You're putting forth such a valiant effort to prove your innocence but all witnesses and potential evidence points the finger at you. I'm pretty sure that this doesn't leave such a content feeling. 

According to the Innocence Project, there have been 17 people, who were originally convicted of a crime and sentenced to death, exonerated due to DNA evidence that proved their innocence. They all served a combined 209 years of prison time. People's lives haved been ruined and wasted away in prison because of a lack of effort in a trial, technology, and the lack of DNA evidence.

Pictured above is Charles Irvin Fain. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the kidnapping, murder, and rape of a young girl in Nampa, Idaho. Fain maintained his innocence and was released in 2001 after serving 18 years in prison. It was discovered that the pubic hair found on the victim did not match the DNA of Fain.

How many other innocent men are rotting in prison awaiting their fate?

Larry Griffin was convicted of murdering Quinton Moss in 1980 in a drive-by-shooting. He maintained his innocence but luck was against him and he was executed by lethal injection in 1995. The case was re-opened and there's substantial evidence that may prove him not guilty of this crime. Whether or not this man was innocent doesn't matter anymore because he's already dead. There's no bringing him back. What if someone close to you suffered this same fate? How would you feel?



Executed But Possibly Innocent

DNA Test Proves that Justice Has Failed

Charles Irvin Fain

3 comments:

  1. Your blog is very insightful and brings up that on some occasions we never really KNOW the truth and murdering someone does not fix any situation. For more insight you should read the book "The DEath Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints". This book gives solid reasons the death penalty should be taken away as well as reasons it should remain.

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  2. Your blog caught my attention because of the word innocent being in with the title. If there is any doubt that someone is innocent, why can't they just use a lie detecter test? It would just seem logical to use them for everyone who continuously said they were innocent. Is there a reason that the justice system doesn't use a lie detecter test on everyone? I would really like to know.

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  3. while our justice system isn't perfect it does work. The stitch "innocent until proven guilty" is somewhat accurate because D.A. prosecutors try their hardest to put the "bad people behind bars but the practice of taking ones life as a punishment is inhumane and it goes beyond morals. when did man become god? No one has the right to take anothers life.

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