The American legal system is widely admired for its laudable moral qualities such as liberty, justice, and due process. Americans take great pride in seeing the legal system administer swift and fair penalties to those who have committed crimes. But what happens if the legal system is wrong? What if the person that was sent to prison, or executed by the state, did not commit the crime they were punished for? This was the situation that Ronald Cotton found himself in during the 1980s and 90s serving a life sentence for two rapes he did not commit. Cotton is not alone; there are many stories of wrongfully convicted people being exonerated after serving prison sentences, some of them even being on death row. Cases such as Cotton’s prove the fallibility
…show more content…
It is understood that no justice system can have one hundred percent accuracy when it comes to criminal trials. Occasionally, mistakes will be made and people will be wrongfully convicted. As stated by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, “Our criminal justice system is fallible. We know it, even though we don't like to admit it. It is fallible despite the best efforts of most within it to do justice. And this fallibility is, at the end of the day, the most compelling, persuasive, and winning argument against a death penalty.” If that is the case and the courts are fallible as Spitzer states, it begs the question as to why the death penalty still allowed in this country at all. If not for the ruling of Coker v. Georgia, barring capital punishment for the crime of rape, Cotton likely would have been executed by the state of North Carolina. Others are not as fortunate as Ronald, if he can be called fortunate, and do not avoid wrongfully given death sentences. Amnesty International states that from 1973 to 2012 140 people have had their death row convictions overturned. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that approximately 1 out of 25 people on death row are …show more content…
Seth Penalver was arrested in 1994 in Florida for the murders of three people. With no physical evidence implicating Penalver, a low quality video of the incident in which the murderer’s face in not visible was the compelling evidence used to convicted Penalver. He was acquitted in 2012. Daniel Wade Moore, acquitted in 2009, was on death row for the murder and sexual assault of Karen Tipton. He was released after 256 pages of withheld evidence were revealed. In Texas, Anthony Graves was convicted of assisting Robert Carter in multiple murders in 1992. Relying on Carter’s testimony that Graves did indeed help him commit the murders, Graves was convicted in 1994. Later, Carter admitted that the police coerced false statements and withheld evidence from the jury that could have acquitted Graves. Graves was exonerated in 2010. Although the preceding stories indicate instances in which innocent people were exonerated, it is imperative to remember that others do not get that chance. If 140 people have been exonerated from death row, there is a very good chance that there are many innocent people who are put to death never being able to clear their
It is understood that no justice system can have one hundred percent accuracy when it comes to criminal trials. Occasionally, mistakes will be made and people will be wrongfully convicted. As stated by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, “Our criminal justice system is fallible. We know it, even though we don't like to admit it. It is fallible despite the best efforts of most within it to do justice. And this fallibility is, at the end of the day, the most compelling, persuasive, and winning argument against a death penalty.” If that is the case and the courts are fallible as Spitzer states, it begs the question as to why the death penalty still allowed in this country at all. If not for the ruling of Coker v. Georgia, barring capital punishment for the crime of rape, Cotton likely would have been executed by the state of North Carolina. Others are not as fortunate as Ronald, if he can be called fortunate, and do not avoid wrongfully given death sentences. Amnesty International states that from 1973 to 2012 140 people have had their death row convictions overturned. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that approximately 1 out of 25 people on death row are …show more content…
Seth Penalver was arrested in 1994 in Florida for the murders of three people. With no physical evidence implicating Penalver, a low quality video of the incident in which the murderer’s face in not visible was the compelling evidence used to convicted Penalver. He was acquitted in 2012. Daniel Wade Moore, acquitted in 2009, was on death row for the murder and sexual assault of Karen Tipton. He was released after 256 pages of withheld evidence were revealed. In Texas, Anthony Graves was convicted of assisting Robert Carter in multiple murders in 1992. Relying on Carter’s testimony that Graves did indeed help him commit the murders, Graves was convicted in 1994. Later, Carter admitted that the police coerced false statements and withheld evidence from the jury that could have acquitted Graves. Graves was exonerated in 2010. Although the preceding stories indicate instances in which innocent people were exonerated, it is imperative to remember that others do not get that chance. If 140 people have been exonerated from death row, there is a very good chance that there are many innocent people who are put to death never being able to clear their