The Exonerated

Feb 23, 2004 13:45

i saw "The Exonerated" with Paul the Boyfriend on Saturday night ( Read more... )

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viktoriablue February 23 2004, 11:07:52 UTC
I used to be pro-death penalty but now I'm uncertain. I do think that the jail system in N. America's too kind to their prisoners. I don't know how true it was or still is, but I hear that in Japan, prison life is quite wretched, you have to kneel for a number of hours, be put in a room where you can't stand, and most of all, put to work.

Are inmates put to work these days? I know at one point they used to make license plates. Why can't we do more with their manpower?

There's a minimum security prison here that runs a small shelter for unwanted cats. I think it's a great idea. The cats get attention, and the inmates get unconditional love, and people have a place to adopt animals that have been cared for with love.

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albeetle February 23 2004, 11:29:01 UTC
Convicts here work - making license plates, cleaning public roads, things like that.

This show had to do with people who were wrongfully convicted. Thy ended up with a death sentence when they had done nothing wrong.

They were later cleared by DNA evidence and, in some cases, the confession of the truly guilty party.

So, so sad.

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viktoriablue February 23 2004, 11:38:15 UTC
well, at least they were exonerated eventually. I wonder how many innocent people were put to death?

I guess our society needs someone, anyone, to punish for a crime.

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albeetle February 23 2004, 11:44:26 UTC
You have a point.

One man, after spending 22 years in prison for the rape a murder of a woman, was cleared through DNA evidence.

The DNA evidence also proved that the crime was committed by another suspect - a married man woth whom the murdered woman had been having an affair.

But the authorities never botherd going after him. First, because they never, ever want to admit that they made a horrible mistake and second, because they figure that "someone" has served time for the crime.

Punishment-by-proxy.

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veggies February 23 2004, 14:18:36 UTC
i'm anti-death penalty too...if not just for human rights reasons...but for state $$ reasons as well

have you ever seen the $$ numbers for a death row inmate? too much money is spent on appeal cases for death penalty inmates...on average, it costs more to actually sentence and put a criminal to death (lawyer fees, court costs, judicial costs, etc) than it would to imprison the criminal for life

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