Since the death penalty was reinstated in the US in 1976, there have been 1,325 executions (including year 2013).
Executions in 2013: 5
Executions in 2012: 43
Executions in 2011: 43
Kirk Bloodsworth would have been
one of those executed, had it not been for DNA evidence. Kirk Bloodsworth, a jolly white male,
is one of many young men sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit; he was convicted in March of
1985 for the brutal killing and sexual assault of a nine-year-old girl. Bloodsworth was exonerated 8 years
later. And, according to
Bloodsworth he is the first inmate released from death row based on
post-conviction DNA evidence.
Prosecutors who take capital cases know that the possibility of executing an innocent person (most likely a male) is a very real possibility. In the Missouri case of Larry Griffin, prosecutor Jennifer Joyce, St Louis circuit attorney, understood this when she said:
Every prosecutor conceptually has the notion that someone innocent can be convicted. http://nyti.ms/16vuMmy
There is strong evidence that the US justice system has executed innocent men and women. But we don't talk about such atrocities. In a society where only six or seven states have halted "state-mandated executions" the execution of men and women still remains a part of the normal processes of everyday life.
Fewer than 20 states have either abolished outright or have placed a moratorium on the death penalty. This leaves over 50% of states still in the business of executing men and women. And, up until recently the US executed youth under the age of 18, with most states following recent Supreme Court decisions no longer doing so.
{Charles L. Scott, MD, 2005, "Roper v. Simmons: Can Juvenile Offenders be Executed?" Journal of American Academy of Psychiatry and Law 33:4:547-552}
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