klotz@ihuxo.UUCP (Dave Klotzbach) (01/16/85)
The American Luthern Church is in the process of preparing a letter on Capital Punishment. This may be a followup to the letter first published in 1972. Since I am in the group that is supposed to make suggestions for our local Churches position, I would like to get the most facts available. It is generally accepted that there is no concrete Biblical position either for or against the Death penalty, therefore the question being persued is one of justice. In this vain we are looking at three factors: 1. Finacial cost to the community. Is it really more expediant to put a man or womanto death then to keep that person in prison. 2. The possibility of error. How many executed persons have been later exhonerated. What is the possibility of such an error. 3. Racial aspects of the Death penalty. 54% of the persons sent to Death Row during the last 50 years were Black. How does this compare to the population of the US in that same period. I find the the data on the cost to the comunity is so full of emotional bias that I can not become involve in that discussion. Therefore I will concentrate by investigation on the later 2. I have a copy of the 1980 US Department of Justice report on Capital punishment, but there are some holes in the data. There is no record of wrongful death nor is there any information on the prison populations other than Death Row. Additionally, the information on the number of Blacks on death row needs to be balanced against the ratios in those states that have the Death Penalty. At this point I am only interested in facts, emotional outbreak either pro or con serve no purpose in this discussion. Thank in advance Dave Klotzbach
yee@ucbvax.ARPA (Peter E. Yee) (01/19/85)
In article <419@ihuxo.UUCP> klotz@ihuxo.UUCP (Dave Klotzbach) writes: >2. The possibility of error. How many executed persons have been later > exhonerated. What is the possibility of such an error. How accurately could you get such statistics. I doubt that every case in which a man is executed is checked again later for errors. After all, the deed is done, why seek to raise a ruckus over the dead? -Peter Yee ..ucbvax!yee yee@Berkeley.ARPA
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (01/29/85)
> >2. The possibility of error. How many executed persons have been later > > exhonerated. What is the possibility of such an error. > > How accurately could you get such statistics. I doubt that every case in > which a man is executed is checked again later for errors. After all, the > deed is done, why seek to raise a ruckus over the dead? Also, as I recall, that fellow they executed in Utah a few years ago was accused of a number (4?) of murders. They tried and convicted him on one count, and executed him. I still wonder if one or more of the other 3 murders was committed by someone else. We'll never know. -- Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug