[supercat]

Limiting the number of appeals could save time and money so justice can be done.

The people on death row are supposedly those whose guilt is most certain. If one wishes to free innocent people, wouldn't it make more sense to focus resources on those who have "merely" been sentenced to life without parole?

Society right now in on the wrong side of a feedback loop: the more crimes are committed, the less likely it is that criminals will face punishment; this in turn leads to more crimes, which in turn means criminals are less likely to face punishment.

Meanwhile, the overcrowded court systems are such that being accused of a crime is extremely punishing even for those who are acquitted. And don't get me started on plea-bargains.

Rolling back the drug war would do a lot to help society focus on the more serious crimes which are committed; any resulting reduction in the number of crimes would in turn reduce the number of innocent people convicted.

Consider two hypothetical towns: Town #1 has 10 murders per year, and convicts someone for 9; 1% of these convictions get the wrong guy. Town #2 has 100 murders per year, and convicts someone for 80. Only 0.1% of those convictions net the wrong guy.

In which town are more innocent people put to death?

[PowerTee]

"Society right now in on the wrong side of a feedback loop: the more crimes are committed, the less likely it is that criminals will face punishment; this in turn leads to more crimes, which in turn means criminals are less likely to face punishment."

I disagree. The more serious we are about prosecuting crime, even "minor" crime, the more deterrence we get.

Criminals generally do a crude type of cost/benefit analysis and when we're squishy on prosecuting, they push do as much as they can. Just ask New Yorkers about how cracking down on "petty crimes" affected their overall crime rate.

[Victoria Delsoul]

I agree with your post. Since 1973, less than 70 people who were sentenced to death have been declared innocent, so the possibility of executing innocent people does exist but is clearly small.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Regarding to your question, I don't think we can use a moral absolute to answer these questions because, it depends on how one, personally, rates human life and in what type of society one wishes to live. Does one innocent life equal another?