The Dallas Morning News tells us that another convict has been found to be innocent through the use of DNA. This man had already served 25 years for a crime he did not commit. The really sad fact is that this is not the only case like this in Dallas County.
In the last five years, ten prison inmates convicted in Dallas have been found to be innocent. Most of these men were convicted on eyewitness testimony. Many people think that eyewitness testimony is the best kind of evidence. They are wrong.
Unless the witness is identifying someone they already know pretty well, eyewitness testimony is probably the least reliable kind of evidence. People just do not do a very good job of identifying a stranger they have seen only briefly during a period of high stress.
Dallas needs to be more careful in their use of this kind of evidence. Ten innocent men in the past five years is way too many. Barry Scheck, an attorney with the Innocence Project, compares the situation to plane crashes. You might expect 10 crashes in five years, but not all in the same place.
This is why I really cannot support the death penalty. Theoretically, I don't see the death penalty as morally wrong, but there are just far too many innocent men being convicted. Until we can fix our justice system, and make it as fair for minorities and the poor as it is for the rich, we should not be executing anyone. There is no justification for sending an innocent man to prison - in general population or on death row.
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