Ontopic The GOP - What the hell happened to you

just watched the audience at one of the debates clap (en masse) when it was announced how many people had been executed during Rick Perry's term in office.

how does the execution by the government fit in with that 'small government' bent?
Compared to prison? At least Texas moves them a long pretty fast.
 
Yay, they move some innocent people quicker towards death rather than freedom.

Praise Texas!
I'm too lazy to edit. Last person executed by Texas was Lawrence Russel Brewer on September 21, 2011. He picked up a black guy, who was hitchhiking home from work. Then with an accomplice, drove the black guy to a rural road. He then proceeded to beat the black guy unconscious and urinate on him before tying him to his truck, by the ankles, and dragging him three miles until he died. He was in fact also a white supremacist. Before he was executed he was asked if he had any regrets to which he replied "As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets. No, I'd do it all over again, to tell you the truth."

Yes, very, very, innocent individuals.
 
And? They've killed innocent people. Killing guilty people does not make that right. Ever.

That is why the death penalty is barbaric, uncivilised and wrong.
name someone innocent

as in post execution pardon, admission of mistake etc.
 
name someone innocent

as in post execution pardon, admission of mistake etc.

Wiki post incoming!

Of the American cases, one often quoted is the execution of Jesse Tafero in Florida. Tafero was convicted along with an accomplice, Sonia Jacobs, of murdering two police officers in 1976 while the two were fleeing drug charges; each was sentenced to death based partially on the testimony of a third person, Walter Rhodes, a prison acquaintance of Tafero's who was an accessory to the crime and who testified against the pair in exchange for a lighter sentence. Jacobs's death sentence was commuted in 1981. In 1982, Rhodes recanted his testimony and claimed full responsibility for the crime. Despite Rhodes's admission, Tafero was executed in 1990. In 1992 the conviction against Jacobs was quashed and the state subsequently did not have enough evidence to retry her. She then entered an Alford plea and was sentenced to time served. It has been presumed that, as the same evidence was used against Tafero as against Jacobs, Tafero would have been released as well had he still been alive.[7]
Johnny Frank Garrett of Texas was executed for allegedly raping and murdering a nun. Evidence and testimony originally suggested a Cuban individual before Frank became the main suspect. The flawed case is explored in a 2008 Documentary "The Last Word".
Wayne Felker, a convicted rapist, is also claimed by some observers to have been an innocent victim of execution. Felker was a suspect in the disappearance of a Georgia (US) woman in 1981 and was under police surveillance for two weeks prior to the woman's body being found. The autopsy was conducted by an unqualified technician, and the results were changed to show the death occurring before the surveillance had begun. After Felker's conviction, his lawyers presented testimony by forensics experts that the body could not have been dead more than three days when found; a stack of evidence was found hidden by the prosecution that hadn't been presented in court, including DNA evidence that might have exonerated Felker or cast doubt on his guilt. There was also a signed confession by another suspect in the paperwork, but despite all this, Felker was executed in 1996. In 2000, his case was reopened in an attempt to make him the first executed person in the US to have DNA testing used to prove his innocence after his execution. [8]
Cameron Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for an arson fire in 1991 which took the lives of his three small daughters. Subsequently, doubt has been cast on the forensic evidence which underlay the conviction, particularly whether evidence existed of an accelerant having been used to start the blaze.
Thomas and Meeks Griffin were executed in 1915 for the murder of a man involved in an interracial affair two years before but were pardoned 94 years after execution. It is thought that they were arrested and charged because they were not wealthy enough to hire competent legal counsel and get an acquittal.[9]
Timothy Evans in the United Kingdom, was tried and executed in 1950 for the murder of his baby daughter Geraldine. An official inquiry conducted 16 years later determined that it was Evans's fellow tenant, serial killer John Reginald Halliday Christie, who was responsible for the murder. Christie also admitted to the murder of Evans's wife as well as five other women and his own wife. Christie may have murdered other women, judging by evidence found in his possession at the time of his arrest, but it was never pursued by the police. Evans was pardoned posthumously following this, in 1966. The case prompted the abolition of capital punishment in the UK in 1965.
Derek Bentley was a mentally challenged young man who was executed in 1953, also in the United Kingdom. He was convicted of the murder of a police officer during an attempted robbery despite the fact that it was his accomplice who fired the gun, and Bentley was under arrest at the time of the shooting. The accomplice who actually fired the fatal shot could not be executed owing to his young age.[10]
Chipita Rodriguez was hanged in San Patricio County, Texas in 1863 for murdering a horse trader, and 122 years later, the Texas Legislature passed a resolution exonerating her.
 
In 1997, Illinois halted executions when DNA testing found 52% of their deathrow inmates were innocent.

The people who were exhonorated are: Rolando Cruz, Alejandro Hernandez, Verneal Jimerson, Dennis Williams, Joseph Burrows, Gary Gauger, Carl Lawson, Perry Cobb, Darby Tillis.

In Texas, the following people were found innocent AFTER execution. Texas still executes prisoners.

Frank Basil McFarland was executed for a rape/murder despite multiple inconsistencies in the state’s case, altered evidence, purchased and coerced testimony, and suppressed evidence of guilt. After execcution, he was found innocent by DNA testing.

Jerry Lee Hogue was convicted of an arson/murder. Another individual later admited to the crime, but was denied further investigation by Gov. Bush. Mr Hogue was execcuted.

David Stoker was convicted of capital murder based on the testimony of three witnesses, who later recanted their testimony. Doubts aside, Gov. Bush executed Mr. Stoker.

Richard Wayne Jones, was convicted of a murder despite strong evidence that his sister’s boyfriend had committed it. DNA testing was denied by Gov. Bush, and approved his execution.

Willie Williams and Joseph Nichols both shot at their murder victim, but only one hit him. In order to execute both, Texas argued that each had killed the man; in one trial, the state argued that Mr. Williams had shot the victim and Mr. Nichols had missed, and in the next trial, the state argued that Mr. Nichols had shot the victim and Mr. Williams had missed. Both were convicted of capital murder. Mr. Williams was executed by Gov. Bush; Mr. Nichols is still on death row.

James Lee Beathard was convicted of capital murder based on the testimony of the admitted murderer, Gene Hathorn. Still, Gov. Bush executed Mr. Beathard, though he was innovent.

Gary Graham was convicted of capital murder on the basis of one eyewitness’s testimony. Despite DNA evidence that provees otherwise, Mr. Graham was executed by Gov. Bush.

David Wayne Spence was convicted of capital murder although no physical evidence linked him to the crime and almost every witness against him admitted that his or her testimony had been purchased or coerced. DNA evidence says that another man had committed the triple murder. Nevertheless, Gov. Bush executed Mr. Spence.
 
Kirk Bloodsworth was the first American to be freed from death row as a result of exoneration by DNA fingerprinting. Ray Krone is the 100th American to have been sentenced to death and later exonerated.

:lol: Over ONE HUNDRED people sentenced to death who shouldn't have been. Good job, it definitely seems like a good risk to take.
 
I agree, it's one of the most embarrassing things we do. We don't like to admit we are wrong either so getting a person exonerated is really friggin tough. And even if they aren't put to death if we discover a person is innocent after they've been sitting in jail for 10 years we just throw them back out into society with nothing and hope they do okay. It's pretty disgusting. I'd rather 100 criminals go free than 100 innocent people lose their lives, but I guess that's not a popular opinion. I admit there are some horrible people out there, but knowing they could face the death penalty doesn't seem to be a deterrent for them so I'm not sure what the point is. Most victim's families report they feel no sense of justice from it nor does it lessen their suffering so it's not helping on that end either.
 
It just plays on the emotional outrage of the public eileen, that's why certain politicians will always be for it. It makes them look tough and 'just' regardless of the fact that execution has nothing to do with justice and everything do with vengeful idiocy. If it was a deterrent pro-execution people would have a point, but sadly it doesn't deter anything at all. It just waste millions and millions and millions of dollars and kills the occasional innocent person just so politicians can get elected by retards.
 
Kirk Bloodsworth was the first American to be freed from death row as a result of exoneration by DNA fingerprinting. Ray Krone is the 100th American to have been sentenced to death and later exonerated.

:lol: Over ONE HUNDRED people sentenced to death who shouldn't have been. Good job, it definitely seems like a good risk to take.
100 out of 1,270 is 7%. Only 2% of murderers get sentenced to death so that 0.0014 (14/10000, fourteen 10 thousandths) of then have ever been proven innocent. That's pretty damn good numbers.

You might find this interesting
http://www.innocenceproject.org/
 
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I agree, it's one of the most embarrassing things we do. We don't like to admit we are wrong either so getting a person exonerated is really friggin tough. And even if they aren't put to death if we discover a person is innocent after they've been sitting in jail for 10 years we just throw them back out into society with nothing and hope they do okay. It's pretty disgusting. I'd rather 100 criminals go free than 100 innocent people lose their lives, but I guess that's not a popular opinion. I admit there are some horrible people out there, but knowing they could face the death penalty doesn't seem to be a deterrent for them so I'm not sure what the point is. Most victim's families report they feel no sense of justice from it nor does it lessen their suffering so it's not helping on that end either.
Once you are arrested for a felony your life is essentially over. You will never get a job or contribute to society in a meaningful way ever again, and no one will give you a job. At best youll collect social security forever, at worst youll just doing something else criminal.
 
Once you are arrested for a felony your life is essentially over. You will never get a job or contribute to society in a meaningful way ever again, and no one will give you a job. At best youll collect social security forever, at worst youll just doing something else criminal.

Well, that's not true at all, but it certainly does make things much more difficult. Being arrested and going to prison for years are 2 completely different things as is going to prison for years verses being executed for a crime you didn't commit. One is too many though. Ruining lives without any sort of apology is horrible.