Technically because of the way our legal system is set up no innocent person has ever been executed.
If we accept the premise that if a jury rules “not guilty” regardless of the facts (and we later learn that person was in fact guilty) in the eyes of the law, they are innocent.
The reverse is also true. We have safeguards and appeals. By the time the death penalty is applied the condemned has had multiple reviews of their case.
Even if after all that, we discover that the person was in fact did not commit the crime, they are still “guilty” having been found so by a jury of their peers.
While the death penalty is not 100% free from mistakes, there is one thing we all can agree on, no one that has been executed has ever killed an innocent person again. That can not be said for the many once convicted death row inmates that somehow found themselves out among the people again.
How many innocent victims must there be to satisfy those that oppose the death penalty?
One last item. Life is unfair. People die everyday from things other than old age. Accidents, war, murders, diseases, why is it the only thing that concerns the left is the death penalty.
I am sure the victims of these convicted killers wished they had years of appeals before they died.
At least that is my opinion
First off, there is nobody that can say an innocent person has not been executed. I understand the nuance you are striving for but it seriously misses the context of the subject.
More importantly, our legal system is not set up as you say. It follows a basic tenant that it is a bigger crime to convict and innocent person than to let 10 guilty people go free. The system you are talking about is the one in China where it is generally accepted that for the common good some innocent people will have the bad fate of being falsely convicted.
My objection to the death penalty is that we do not have the opportunity to right a wrong when someone has been falsely convicted. Once they have been executed, society has no chance to correct the infringement on the individuals personal liberties.
My objection to the death penalty is reinforced every time I hear of someone that has been exonerated after having spent a decade or more in jail.
Further to our conversation.
Dallas man exonerated for rape after being cleared by DNA tests
http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/dallas-man-exonerated-for-rape-after-being-cleared-by-dna-tests