There are many things wrong with the justice system in this country, particularly in this post-9/11 age when civil rights are at risk of vanishing in the desire for Pentagon databases on citizens and Presidential executive power over them. But one thing is particularly wrong with the system, and that is the use of the death penalty. Even aside from the moral issue of the state taking the life of one of its citizens, the horrible truth about the death penalty is that we can never be sure whether the person killed by the state was actually guilty of the crime for which he or she was convicted.
For a sobering story about a likely miscarriage of justice in applying the death penalty to an innocent person, read about Juan Moreno here. Convicted at 19 and killed by the state of Texas at 26, Morena was almost undoubtedly innocent. Both the eyewitness who identified him and a friend who could have save him have admitted that their fear of the authorities kept them from telling the truth.
This is one further proof that we need to end the barbarous death penalty and join the rest of the world of civilized nations.
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