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I've written before about the prisoners in the U.S. who were eventually exonerated via DNA or other evidence. They now number 200. At least 123 of them had been on death row.Those are the "lucky" ones. According to a new report by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP), other innocent people actually have been put to death.
The following is from a statement from NCADP about the report:
Death penalty supporters maintain "the system works" and that no innocent person has been proven to be executed. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently wrote that there has not been "a single case - not one - in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."Read More:
Justice Scalia is wrong.
Following up on a handful of investigations spearheaded by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) with a group of committed cooperating attorneys, the Innocence Project, The Justice Project, and students at Columbia, Michigan and several other law schools, some of the nation's best investigative journalists and leading newspapers have recently exposed grave errors leading to the execution of innocent people.
Report Home
Executive Summary
Full Report (pdf)
The Executed:
Carlos DeLuna - Did this man die for a phantom's crime?
Larry Griffin - The eye witness who wasn't there
Robin Cantu - An execution on the basis of lies
Todd Willingham - Executed for an accidental fire
Take Action:
Does your state practice the death penalty? If so, send a message to your governor, urging that the NCADP report be read and considered.
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