Morally, I am in favor of the death penalty; procedurally, I am against it, and when it comes to questions of life and death, I think we should err on the side of caution.
Troy Davis was executed last night here in Georgia. Was he innocent? Who knows? But that seems to have been the point. I am not familiar with the trial beyond what was in the papers, but it certainly seems like there might be some cause for doubt, despite all the denied appeals.
My question is, “Can we be 100% certain in all cases that there were no mistakes, bias, or unfairness that led to the execution of this convicted criminal?” and my answer to that is, “No.” It’s government, and nothing can be perfect. This is why I am not in favor of the death penalty.
A secondary reason is that it seems from my uneducated perspective that the death penalty is more expensive than simply incarcerating someone for the rest of their natural life. “Seems” I say, but I don’t have any numbers, however Mr. Davis was convicted of a 1989 murder. He’s been on Death Row for 20 years and has had four appeals. You do the math.
For details, see the AJC article:
http://www.ajc.com/news/davis-appeals-fail-executed-1186263.html
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