The elephant in the room.As the national debate over the abuses ingrained in our capital punishment capital punishment, imposition of a penalty of death by the state. History Capital punishment was widely applied in ancient times; it can be found (c.1750 B.C.) in the Code of Hammurabi. system continues, more and more people are conceding that there is an elephant in the room Not to be confused with White elephant. The elephant in the room (also elephant in the living room, elephant in the corner, elephant on the dinner table, elephant in the kitchen, horse in the corner, 400lb gorilla in the room, etc. . It is likely that someone has already been executed mistakenly and that other innocent persons are on death row right now. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In a recent opinion upholding a death statute in Kansas, even Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia acknowledges that a minute risk of executing an innocent person does exist. While Justice Scalia does not concede that we have executed an innocent person, he does acknowledge the risk of that happening, albeit one that is so small that it's barely there. Much of the rest of the public has a better gauge because the 123 death row exonerees have begun to tell their stories. And, journalists from some of the nation's leading newspapers are exposing the system's flaws. They have shown that in at least four cases almost certainly an innocent person has been executed. In the most recent of these journalistic investigations, the Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune Daily newspaper published in Chicago. The Tribune is one of the leading U.S. newspapers and long has been the dominant voice of the Midwest. Founded in 1847, it was bought in 1855 by six partners, including Joseph Medill (1823–99), who made the paper published a three-part series which concluded that Carlos De Luna, executed in 1989, was probably innocent. In 2004, the Tribune carried a story reporting that Cameron Todd Willingham, executed earlier that year, had been convicted on the basis of discredited arson analysis. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the only major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the region, and is available and read as far west as Springfield, Missouri. has reported that Larry Griffin For the football player of the same name see Larry Griffin (football player). Larry Griffin, (September 23, 1954 - 21 June, 1995), was sentenced to death for the murder of 19-year-old Quintin Moss. The crime occurred in St. , executed in 1995, may well have been innocent. And less than a year ago, following a series of investigative articles, the Houston Chronicle editorialized that Ruben Cantu "was almost assuredly innocent when killed by the state of Texas." These cases highlight some of the serious flaws that plague our nation's capital punishment process: prosecutor and police misconduct, racial bias, inept attorney representation and the arbitrary application of the death penalty. Some advocates of capital punishment say that the purported benefits of the death penalty override the fact that innocent people are put to death. And, Justice Scalia has argued that the possibility of an error in sentencing has been reduced to "an insignificant minimum." We argue that one guiltless guilt·less adj. Free of guilt; innocent. guilt  less·ly adv.guilt person deprived of life is one miscarriage of justice A legal proceeding resulting in a prejudicial out-come. A miscarriage of justice arises when the decision of a court is inconsistent with the substantive rights of a party. too many. And now there are four chilling reports that make a compelling case for the unthinkable: the state executed the wrong person, an innocent person. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty The National Coalition To Abolish The Death Penalty or NCADP is a large organisation dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty in the United States. Founded in 1976 (the same year the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court of the United States), the NCADP is , our nation's oldest organization fighting capital punishment, believes the capital punishment system is fatally flawed and should be abolished in every state across the nation. At its 2006 national convention in June, the League of Women Voters League of Women Voters, voluntary public service organization of U.S. citizens. Organized in 1920 in Chicago as an outgrowth of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, it had as its original nucleus the leaders of the latter organization. adopted a new position to abolish the death penalty. It's time to stand up and face the elephant in the room. WHAT YOU CAN DO Learn more about the death penalty and things you can do at these Web sites: * www.ncadp.org * www.deathpenaltyinfo.org * www.equaljusticeusa.org BY DIANN RUST-TIERNEY Executive Director, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty |
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