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The lack of 100% accuracy is my only problem with the death penalty. Prosecutors are ideally subject to a higher standard of ethics than other lawyers. For instance, if they have information that would hurt their case and show innocence, wouldn't we WANT them to be REQUIRED to turn it over to the defense/court??
But, their bosses ride their backs just like everyone else's bosses. A young prosecutor I happen to know (and all of her fellow prosecutors) was yelled at for 3 hours yesterday in a "payroll meeting" by the Regional head honcho for the State of Illinois for not being harsh enough. With 400+ cases PER DAY, they are now being required to seek jail time on all misdemeanors (VERY DIFFICULT). The whore who was in court yesterday in Chicago got a slap on the wrist, the one who is in there today gets an opening offer of 120 days in jail.
My point is prosecutors are zealous, too, and as a result mistaken convictions are bound to happen.
As for the confessions... they're the worst. Since the easiest way to get someone convicted is to sit them in a room for 18 hours with no sleep, constant questioning (even during sleep-dep dilerium), with one hand handcuffed to a wall behind them the WHOLE TIME and grill them over and over and over again -- "Just say you did it, and you can get out of here." If I put you or anyone in a room with this psuedo-torture for this amount of time and record everything you say the whole time, I'm bound to get a confession sooner or later.
Cops love confessions. A confession means no real investigation or police work is required. I would guess that the VAST majority of wrongful death sentences are the result of confessions.
[ 09-11-2003, 12:23 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]
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