Troy Davis May Be Innocent; It’s Time to Rethink the Death Penalty

COMMENTARY | When I was younger, I supported the death penalty. I do not have much room in my soul for people who commit horrible crimes, and perhaps through some defect in empathy, my feelings only extend to the victims and their families, not the criminals themselves. Part of that position is driven by an innate sense of right and wrong, and of justice.

But it is that self-same sense of justice that now says it is time to end the death penalty in the United States. With this ultimate sentence, there is no appeal, there is no clearing the record, there is no fixing a mistake.

And there have been mistakes.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court reestablished the death penalty in 1973, 130 death row inmates were exonerated and released. In Texas, questions persist in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for the arson deaths of his daughters; forensic evidence used to convict him was later disproved, with other experts indicating the fire could have been accidental. Willingham maintained his innocence until his death.

Troy Davis, a Georgia man, is set to be put to death Wednesday in a case where seven out of nine eyewitnesses have recanted or changed their testimony. AFP reports other witnesses say the crime was committed by another man who testified against Davis. His proposed execution has sparked worldwide protest as Davis may, in fact, be innocent.

Here in Illinois, 13 innocent men were released from Death Row, leading to the abolition of the death penalty in the state. With the proof that the innocent are convicted of crimes they have not committed, the risk of taking an innocent life far outweighs any payment to society a death sentence exacts, and the legislature acted accordingly. At least in my state, we are no longer running the risk of executing the innocent.

Perhaps my opposition to the death penalty does come from a place of humanity, but not that often-cited place that we, as mere humans, do not have the right to decide another’s fate, or our humanity requires superior treatment from us than that exhibited by a criminal. My problem with the death penalty is simple.

What if we’re wrong?


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