[Cymbaline]

There was a FBi report written years ago, that had studied wrongful convictions that lead to the death penalty. They had concluded at least 20 innocent men had gone to the gallows. I can’t cite this, but I did first read the report from a FR post.

I'd be interested to see that report. It is unfortunate, and it underscores the need to make sure that innocent men aren't executed, but I bet if you counted the number of innocent victims killed by men who were supposed to be in prison for life and committed murders while on parole, the numbers would be staggeringly higher.

Years ago I heard Dennis Prager on his radio show give figures that stated that the average sentance given for murder in the U.S. was 11 years. Based on that, you could make the case that American society really doesn't think murder is that bad. Or at least, the American criminal justice system doesn't think so.

[Cymbaline]

I gotta admit, it’s strange debating capital punishment on FR. I’d have thought we all were of a like mind on the subject.

[hoosierham]

How many of those supposedly innocent of that murder had committed other murders or other serious crimes?

My prisons would be all one person per cell;plain food,have the opportunity for some productive work that did not entail the acquiring of better criminal skills,and strictly censored reading ,limited entertainment,etc.Murderers could look forward to no movie or book deals and parole would be extremely difficult .

Corrupt prison guards could expect harsh sentences and there would have be a strong review board and inspector general who would thoroughly check the operations.

We really don't seriously attack violent crime,we just build criminal colleges.