Christian Democrats in the United States
Domestic Issues - Death PenaltyOur time on the earth is only a brief flicker, whether it ends now or later. Though many may deserve to die, we recognize we are not always right, even when we think we are, and vengeance is not justice. If we respect the sanctity of innocent life, we cannot kill whom we judge to be guilty. True judgment can only come from a power greater than any human being.
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Sunday, October 19, 2008
7:56 PM
Update notes: Davis granted a stay of execution and oral arguments with the court of appeals are scheduled for December 9th. Please support this case whether you believe Davis is innocent or guilty, or whether you support the death penalty in certain cases or not. There is enough doubt that the conviction cannot be certain to the degree that the state must prove to take a man's life.
On October 27th, Troy Davis was scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia. This shows everything that is wrong with the death penalty. The majority of the witnesses against him recanted their testimony, saying they had been coerced by police. The prime witness is considered the most likely alternate suspect. Davis voluntarily surrendered himself to police when named as a suspect. The police never found the murder weapon and have no evidence to link Davis to the crime.
Yet the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal on October 15th.
This exemplifies everything wrong about the death penalty. The stakes are so high, that once a prosecutor and judge step down the road toward the suspect they pre-judge as guilty, the institution of the court refuses to back down, protecting its own at all cost, even the cost of a man's life.
To claim the infallibility of our system of human justice is to commit a grave blasphemy - to claim that our human knowledge is equal in certainty to God's, and that we may rely on each other as much as we may rely on God. But this is a logical fallacy - if all people were upright and told the truth, then no crimes would be committed, and no one would be on trial in the first place. So, any system that relies on human testimony must take into account the uncertain reliability - especially in the light of so many witnesses who recanted.
America broke free of the rule of an unjust king and system of royal lords. Yet the founders took great pains to ensure that the republic which resulted was not a system of mob rule, subject to whims and manipulation of anger. Step up to the plate and prove to them and to the spirit of our nation that we will not accept a kangaroo court or a lynch mob anywhere in America. If such travesties of justice continue, inevitably we will have another civil war, and the Republic will triumph again, like it did the first time - only this time the cost of blood would be far greater.
Davis may have only days to live. Please visit his web site at http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/ to help him.
retry Troy Davis - everything wrong about the death penalty
http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/Update notes: Davis granted a stay of execution and oral arguments with the court of appeals are scheduled for December 9th. Please support this case whether you believe Davis is innocent or guilty, or whether you support the death penalty in certain cases or not. There is enough doubt that the conviction cannot be certain to the degree that the state must prove to take a man's life.
On October 27th, Troy Davis was scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia. This shows everything that is wrong with the death penalty. The majority of the witnesses against him recanted their testimony, saying they had been coerced by police. The prime witness is considered the most likely alternate suspect. Davis voluntarily surrendered himself to police when named as a suspect. The police never found the murder weapon and have no evidence to link Davis to the crime.
Yet the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal on October 15th.
This exemplifies everything wrong about the death penalty. The stakes are so high, that once a prosecutor and judge step down the road toward the suspect they pre-judge as guilty, the institution of the court refuses to back down, protecting its own at all cost, even the cost of a man's life.
To claim the infallibility of our system of human justice is to commit a grave blasphemy - to claim that our human knowledge is equal in certainty to God's, and that we may rely on each other as much as we may rely on God. But this is a logical fallacy - if all people were upright and told the truth, then no crimes would be committed, and no one would be on trial in the first place. So, any system that relies on human testimony must take into account the uncertain reliability - especially in the light of so many witnesses who recanted.
America broke free of the rule of an unjust king and system of royal lords. Yet the founders took great pains to ensure that the republic which resulted was not a system of mob rule, subject to whims and manipulation of anger. Step up to the plate and prove to them and to the spirit of our nation that we will not accept a kangaroo court or a lynch mob anywhere in America. If such travesties of justice continue, inevitably we will have another civil war, and the Republic will triumph again, like it did the first time - only this time the cost of blood would be far greater.
Davis may have only days to live. Please visit his web site at http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/ to help him.
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