Two-thirds of all Murder Convictions are Overturned
In response to my article Capital Punishment was Once Perfect, a reader argued that in fact we rarely execute, noting that "Death row inmates in the U.S. typically spend over a decade awaiting execution. Some prisoners have been on death row for well over 20 years."
For those who do not understand the system: the reason that death penalty appeals can go on for decades is that the judges (all the way up to the Supreme Court) know the system is broken, even if the general public does not. Judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, the police know that we often execute innocent people. Judges know that culturally Americans are not ready to abolish the death penalty and so they have allowed procedures to be put in place to help overcome the problems with Capital trials: the fabrications by police, the hiding of exculpatory evidence by prosecutors, the rampant mis-identification by witnesses, the self-serving testimony of jailhouse snitches, the unreliability of forensic evidence, the obvious bias against those of another race, the forced confessions, the absolute exclusion of people who share my feelings to be on juries, etc.
It is only on the back end — on appeal and in other postconviction proceedings — that the legal system, at great length and expense, starts to examine seriously whether particular death sentences were actually warranted (1).
And where judicial process has failed to find Justice, governors of various states, because they are exposed to the overwhelming evidence that we execute the innocent, that the death penalty is unequally applied, that it has no deterrence, that the system is broken, have been forced to place a moratorium on executions (2).
Almost two-thirds of all death penalty convictions are eventually overturned thanks to the long time spent on death row. If we executed within a few days or weeks of conviction, we definitely would have executed hundreds who were later found to be innocent.
The long appeals process is not the problem - it is the solution. A terribly flawed solution until we finally abolish this barbaric practice.
ENDNOTES
(1):
NY Times, 31 Oct 2011, Lifelong Death Sentences
According to a study published in 2004 in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 5 percent of the 5,826 death sentences imposed from 1973 to 1995 were carried out in those years. By contrast, the study found, there was a 68 percent chance that death sentences in those years would be overturned by the courts.
One of the authors of that study was James S. Liebman, a law professor at Columbia. In a seminal 2000 article in The Columbia Law Review called “The Overproduction of Death,” Professor Liebman explained where the capital justice system has gone wrong: It produces too many death sentences at trial and then throws most of them out.
At trial, almost all of the incentives conspire to generate death sentences. Prosecutors and judges tend to be elected, and they reap political benefits from appearing tough on crime. Defense lawyers tend to be appointed, underpaid and overmatched. People with qualms about the death penalty are not allowed to serve on capital juries.
It is only on the back end — on appeal and in other postconviction proceedings — that the legal system, at great length and expense, starts to examine seriously whether particular death sentences were actually warranted.
(2):
Death Penalty Information Center, 11 Feb 2014, Washington Governor Announces Moratorium on Executions
Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced on February 11 that he would issue a reprieve for any death penalty case that reaches his desk. He said he does not intend to commute the sentences of the nine men on the state's death row, but his action will ensure that no executions occur while he is governor. In his press conference announcing the decision, Inslee said, "Equal justice under the law is the state's primary responsibility. And in death penalty cases, I'm not convinced equal justice is being served. The use of the death penalty in this state is unequally applied, sometimes dependent on the budget of the county where the crime occurred." He also cited the death penalty's lack of deterrent effect and said that it is unnecessary when the state has the sentencing option of life without parole. His decision to institute a moratorium came after discussions with victims' family members, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials.
