ACLU of Kentucky

As of this month, 133 death row inmates have been exonerated in the last 30 years. Many of us understand the reasons why innocent people are convicted of crimes they did not commit, however some researchers theorize that a defendant in a capital case may be more likely to be wrongly convicted for several reasons.

Often the death penalty is a politicized subject that is frequently used in campaigns for elected officials like local judges. By sentencing more people to death they can be seen as, “tough on crime”.

Also there can also be increased pressure on law enforcement officials to solve homicides quickly because of the high emotions that surround these cases. This increased pressure can lead to misconduct or erroneous mistakes by the investigators.  Additionally, an undue reliance upon evidence whose reliability is inherently suspect - such as suggestive eyewitness identifications, testimony of jailhouse informants and coerced confessions – also contribute to the wrongful convictions of innocent people while the actual criminals remain free.

Though 133 people have been exonerated and released from death row, it is impossible to know how many people have been executed who were also innocent because courts generally do not entertain claims of innocence after the defendant is dead. There are stories like Joseph O’Dell’s where new DNA evidence has thrown considerable doubt onto his murder and rape conviction. In fact, when reviewing his conviction, three Supreme Court justices said they had doubts about O’Dell’s guilt; without the blood evidence there was little linking him to the crime. O’Dell asked the state to conduct new DNA tests and they refused, he was executed in 1997.

Hear the story of a potentially innocent man currently on death row in the video below

As of this month, 133 death row inmates have been exonerated in the last 30 years. Many of us understand the reasons why innocent people are convicted of crimes they did not commit, however some researchers theorize that a defendant in a capital case may be more likely to be wrongly convicted for several reasons.

Often the death penalty is a politicized subject that is frequently used in campaigns for elected officials like local judges. By sentencing more people to death they can be seen as, “tough on crime”.

Also there can also be increased pressure on law enforcement officials to solve homicides quickly because of the high emotions that surround these cases. This increased pressure can lead to misconduct or erroneous mistakes by the investigators.  Additionally, an undue reliance upon evidence whose reliability is inherently suspect - such as suggestive eyewitness identifications, testimony of jailhouse informants and coerced confessions – also contribute to the wrongful convictions of innocent people while the actual criminals remain free.

Though 133 people have been exonerated and released from death row, it is impossible to know how many people have been executed who were also innocent because courts generally do not entertain claims of innocence after the defendant is dead. There are stories like Joseph O’Dell’s where new DNA evidence has thrown considerable doubt onto his murder and rape conviction. In fact, when reviewing his conviction, three Supreme Court justices said they had doubts about O’Dell’s guilt; without the blood evidence there was little linking him to the crime. O’Dell asked the state to conduct new DNA tests and they refused, he was executed in 1997.

To hear the story of a potentially innocent man currently on death row, please click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooPHNsFqb8M.

Kentucky has exonerated 1 inmate from death row, however this number may increase in the near future. Kentucky was just 1 of 5 states that was recently awarded a federal grant through the Kentucky Innocence Project that will allow for the thorough review of cases involving possible wrongful convictions and in which DNA testing may prove innocence. While the grant does not specifically target death row inmates, it does not exclude them either.

One does not have to be an ardent abolitionist to recognize that we should not execute innocent people. In the two states that recently abolished the death penalty, the governors of both New Mexico and New Jersey recognized the potential fallacies in our criminal justice system as one of the most salient issues they faced when it came time for them to consider the ethical implications of the death penalty.