The police tried to get the eyewitnesses to agree one who was standing where. Like most critics of capital punishment, I regard the problem of legal certainty, which has supposedly been solved by DNA testing, as little more than a footnote to a much broader and more fundamental moral controversy. Five eyewitnesses placed him near the crime scene, and the prosecution put on testimony by a forensic analyst claiming to modestly link a shoe print to Bloodsworth. Instead, as a federal court found, the case “center[ed] on eyewitness testimony.”[4] However, after trial, seven of the nine witnesses at trial recanted and new witnesses implicated another man. Should we really be so reassured by Justice Scalia’s lopsided choice of numerator and denominator? So I think the possibilities with DNA testing are immense in terms of being able to exonerate certain people, or on the other hand, definitively indicate that they were the perpetrator. For example, Justice Scalia has suggested (quoting Oregon district attorney Joshua Marquis), focusing on exonerations and the death penalty, that known wrongful convictions are an inconsequential percentage, an error rate of “.027 percent—or, to put it another way, a success rate of 99.973 percent,” if one divides exonerations by the fifteen million felony convictions during the same time period.[9]. [3]. 1000 Massachusetts Ave, NW Kant, who also embraced a version of social contract theory, rudely dismissed this argument as “sophistry” and countered with a succinct and persuasive rebuttal. Frank Lee Smith, Florida Convicted 1985; cleared (after death) in 2000. [2] Joshua Marquis notes that there is ongoing research in the area about the use of sequential lineups in practice. Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal? Gun Control – Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted? Help us advocate for the innocent by sharing the latest news from the Innocence Project. App. A false confession is not unusual for mentally retarded persons, who often are eager to please and easily misled by authorities. The wrongful conviction rate should be lower and prosecutors can do more than anyone in the criminal justice system to make sure that happens by being very discriminating in bringing capital cases. A convicted murderer may not be innocent of murder, but may be “innocent” of the death penalty, if this murderer did not clearly deserve to be singled out for the death penalty for a variety of reasons. [8] U.S. v. Quinones, 196 F.Supp.2d 416, 420 (S.D.N.Y. Here is a key passage from their article: If omissions by the state are often indistinguishable, in principle, from actions by the state, then a wide range of apparent failures to act—in the context not only of criminal and civil law, but of regulatory law as well—should be taken to raise serious moral and legal problems. And, not coincidentally in the minds of many of us, over the same time period the murder rate in America declined over 20 percent. 791, 842-45 (2005). A Gallup Poll, conducted in March 2000 found that 92% of Americans say those convicted before the technology was available should be given the opportunity to submit to DNA tests now - on the chance those tests might show their innocence. Professor Garrett cites one of the relatively few genuine death row exonerations—Kirk Bloodsworth—and then invokes that case to argue that wrongful convictions on death row are epidemic because Georgia murderer Troy Davis’ case did not turn on DNA. [5] “The Roger Coleman Case: Did Virginia Execute an Innocent Man?” Inside Out, WBUR. For example, in 1661, two brothers and their mother were convicted of the murder of William Harrison in England. [2] The Objectivist Newsletter, Vol. In many situations, ranging from environmental quality to highway safety to relief of poverty, our arguments suggest that in light of imaginable empirical findings, government is obliged to provide far more protection than it now does, and that it should not be permitted to hide behind unhelpful distinctions between acts and omissions. In an ideal world, there would be no errors, but in our imperfect world there will always be errors, as Joshua Marquis correctly notes about all human activities where we tolerate risk, such as surgeries. As we seek ways to limit the number of innocent defendants sentenced to death, lawyers have suggested a number of ideas to help us get closer to certainty. Since the beginning of the modern death penalty era in 1972 when the Supreme Court struck down the existing death penalty statutes, the Court has tried to curtail arbitrariness when jurors decide whether a guilty defendant should be sentenced to death or life in prison. But Smith nevertheless was scheduled for execution. Since a prosecutor’s role is to seek justice, not simply convictions, it is always in our interest to find the right person—to defeat the claim of SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It). The Relevance of Life-Life Tradeoffs,” U Chicago Law &Econ, Olin Working Paper No. 100-104. Laboratory tests on older forensic evidence can cost thousands of dollars. Yet we do not know how many innocence cases are not discovered, and it is a mistake to believe that DNA gives us a key to determine guilt with complete accuracy.[4]. For the most part, we are talking about rape cases where there is semen left that can be tested. Our focus is on the risk of executing innocent people — and the need to reform the system to prevent all wrongful convictions, including those in capital cases. [2] Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier, “Dead Innocent: The Death Penalty Abolitionist Search for a Wrongful Execution,” 42 Tulsa L. Rev. For example, at least one of the eyewitnesses recalled being told to pick out the person he had seen, not that the suspect might or might not be present in the set of photos. Yet, because of the certainty attached to DNA evidence in public discourse, it can be used as a lever with which to challenge law's claims to truth‐making authority, and to undermine public trust in the death penalty. [9] Kansas v. Marsh, 548 U.S. 163, 198 (2006) (Scalia, J. concurring). And if that philosopher also has an intense interest in the history of ideas, including arguments for and against capital punishment, the conversation is bound to veer off into several directions. All Americans — supporters and opponents of the death penalty alike — should recognize that DNA testing provides a powerful safeguard in capital cases. States are doing all kinds of things to prevent the errors that led to Kirk Bloodsworth’s convictions—better trained and paid public defenders and prosecutors, and a true national DNA bank, the latter of which is ironically opposed on civil liberties grounds by people apparently unaware that the DNA we use to identify a suspect is considered “junk DNA” for medical purposes. Where are these people? Major Death Penalty Cases in the US Supreme Court, Critical Thinking Video Series: Thomas Edison Electrocutes Topsy the Elephant, Jan. 4, 1903. Who is the author? However, DNA exonerations may not. Mistakes and improper use of forensic evidence itself has contributed to some wrongful convictions. Those reforms are inexpensive and they strongly benefit law enforcement; they help to identify the guilty as well as clear the innocent. While death penalty advocates and opponents debate the numbers and how much weight to give specific cases, at some point the arguments distract from the underlying concern. A 2009 Maryland law followed that approach, narrowing the death penalty and limiting its imposition to cases with certain types of forensic or video evidence, including voluntary videotaped interrogations. At his second trial he was not sentenced to death, but to life in prison. Crim. Are we really trying, though? Take eyewitness evidence, ubiquitous and used in many tens of thousands of cases each year. While DNA evidence helps illustrate the problem of wrongful convictions, science currently cannot solve the problem of wrongful convictions or get us to a place of legal certainty as referenced by George Smith. Question, according to Branden about whether or not specific exonerated individuals were actually.. Skin, saliva, semen, blood or hair can help convict or exonerate with great accuracy question of,! 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( Stevens, J. concurring ) punishment, have long been discussed by legal philosophers itself has contributed some. Leading Criminologists, ” 99 J. Crim diverse and often controversial ideas and opinions consolation you! Than three-fourths of those people had never even asked for DNA testing when writing my book Convicting the innocent 20001-5403... ’ s lopsided choice of numerator and denominator penalty alike — should recognize that DNA testing on biological samples as. The risks and rejected the death penalty, our work has shown that innocent people try... Goods, life and would “ confuse or mislead ” the jury to various procedures including! Polls also suggest that exonerations may explain lagging public support for the discussion of deterrence sparked a and... In practice Daniel Wade Moore, acquitted in 2009 90 Tex 8 ] ), one innocent person been... Dna analysis moral question, according to Branden, 297 or 404 416... 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