Friday, November 12, 2010

Texas, U R doing it wrong.

Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty : The New Yorker:
Willingham had asked that his parents and family not be present in the gallery during this process, but as he looked out he could see Stacy watching. The warden pushed a remote control, and sodium thiopental, a barbiturate, was pumped into Willingham’s body. Then came a second drug, pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the diaphragm, making it impossible to breathe. Finally, a third drug, potassium chloride, filled his veins, until his heart stopped, at 6:20 P.M. On his death certificate, the cause was listed as “Homicide.”
Do supporters of the death penalty believe that those involved in the conviction and sentencing of innocent people should be held accountable when someone they convicted and sent to death row is found to be innocent after being executed? Even if it's just the judge who passes sentence, shouldn't there be consequences for that murder? (Isn't that part of the point of the death penalty?) I don't mean a civil penalty where the family of the victim can get paid, I mean criminal prosecution of the individuals who got it wrong. Maybe then they'd take 'reasonable doubt' seriously and practice justice with a little less blood-lust.
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