Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:39:34 GMT -5
DNA Tests Prove Justice Has Failed
When we talk of capital punishment there is no room for mistakes; no
allowances for doubt or indecision. There is definitely no mechanism for
review of guilt or innocence after someone has been killed.
Yet, consider these people:
Jeffrey Mark Deskovic, 33, spent nearly half his life in a New York prison
for a rape and murder he did not commit. DNA testing cleared Deskovic and
he was released Sep. 20 from prison.
"I was supposed to finish out my educationbegin a career," Deskovic,
choking up, told reporters when leaving the court room. "Marry, have a
family, spend some time with my familyshare the last years of my
grandmother's life with her." Deskovic was 17 years old when he was
ordered to spend his life in prison.
In 2004, Ryan Matthew, convicted for the murder of a local convenience
store owner in Louisiana, escaped the death penalty after prosecutors
dropped all charges on the basis of DNA testing results.
There are other stories of executions conducted too fast, trials completed
too quickly and mistakes too easily made. And yet, the state-sanctioned
killings continue. Now, DNA testing is helping to prove that innocent
people continue to be killed or placed on death row. It proves that the
U.S. judicial system is flawed; it sends innocent people to jail and,
worse, puts them to death.
Northwestern University School of Law's Centre on Wrongful Convictions
(CWC) documented at least 38 executions carried out in the United States
in spite of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt
since capital punishment was restored in the mid-1970s. According to this
study, while innocence has not been proven in any specific case, there is
reasonable doubt that some of the executed prisoners were innocent.
Moreover, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has documented 123
death-row inmates who, since 1973, have been exonerated and freed before
their executions.
Officially, courts do not consider claims of innocence after a person has
been executed. In the past, people attempting to prove innocence had to do
so by re-examining the evidence and re-interviewing witnesses and
investigators, with no finality granted them. In the last 20 years,
however, they have had a new tool: DNA testing.
While DNA testing was still viewed with suspicion by prosecutors in the
1980s, nowadays its implementation and accessibility has shown it
essential in many trials. As it has become more accepted, it has provided
an absolute that previously was not available.
"DNA has introduced dramatic changes in the whole criminal justice system.
Now capital executions are viewed in a more sceptical light thanks to this
testing," Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty
Information Centre (DPIC), told IPS.
Except in the case of identical twins, the structure of a person's DNA is
unique. About 10 per cent of DNA contains chromosomes. The rest of it is
"non-coding" DNA, partly made up of identical sequences. Experts analyse
"repeat units" to compile a person's genetic profile, which takes the form
of a series of figures and becomes essential for investigations.
"Recently, with DNA death-row exonerations, those who may support the
death penalty in principle have questioned its legitimacy given the risk
that we may have executed -- we may execute -- an innocent person.," Sarah
Tofte, researcher for the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch, told IPS.
This has led some prosecutors, law enforcement officials, conservative
politicians and others to support moratoriums on the death penalty, if not
outright abolition. The staff of the CWC pioneered the investigation and
litigation of wrongful convictions, relying a great deal on DNA testing.
Their work proving the innocence of 11 men sitting on death row in the
U.S. state of Illinois was a driving force behind former Governor George
H. Ryan's decision to suspend executions in Illinois in January, 2001.
The Innocence Project, which worked to free Deskovic, only handles cases
where post-conviction DNA tests can yield conclusive proof of innocence.
To date, it has helped exonerate 184 people, proving that wrongful
convictions are not rare.
DNA tests point up the underlying need to reform of the criminal justice
system, including a halt to the death penalty, human rights experts said.
"In my opinion, the recent exonerations of both death-row inmates and
other prisoners represent just the tip of the iceberg of the failures of
our criminal justice system. There is an intolerably high risk that many,
many prisoners currently incarcerated are in fact innocent, including many
death-row inmates," John Holdridge, director of the Capital Punishment
Project for the ACLU, told IPS.
Until the late 1990s, DNA testing was seldom used due to the high cost,
which ran into thousands of dollars. Recently, with the improvement of new
technologies, the price has dropped to about 1,000 dollars, a small amount
compared to the average cost of a trial. Texas, for instance, with over
300 people on death row, spends an estimated 2.3 million dollars per case,
according to the DPIC.
"Now almost everybody can afford the cost of a DNA test. It should be
freely and automatically available to every death-row inmate and every
person charged with a crime. Furthermore, it should be freely available to
every prisoner with a substantial claim of innocence," Holdridge said.
DNA tests played a substantial role in establishing prisoners' innocence
in at least 14 cases of the 123 exonerations since 1973, according to the
DPIC.
Nonetheless, the scope of DNA is limited to the few individual cases in
which biological evidence is available. For every DNA exoneration, there
are countless cases where testing cannot help because no DNA was left on
the scene or the evidence had been lost or destroyed.
"DNA testing is a very good tool to prove the innocence of inmates, but
unfortunately it does not mean the end of erroneous capital executions,"
Holdridge said.
But it does point up the weaknesses in the U.S. justice system: Innocent
people still are being put to death by the government.
"Hopefully people worldwide will continue to be concerned and indignant
about the capital punishment issue. What is essential for succeeding is
that people recognise it as a major diminishing of human values," Dieter
said.
(source: IPS)
When we talk of capital punishment there is no room for mistakes; no
allowances for doubt or indecision. There is definitely no mechanism for
review of guilt or innocence after someone has been killed.
Yet, consider these people:
Jeffrey Mark Deskovic, 33, spent nearly half his life in a New York prison
for a rape and murder he did not commit. DNA testing cleared Deskovic and
he was released Sep. 20 from prison.
"I was supposed to finish out my educationbegin a career," Deskovic,
choking up, told reporters when leaving the court room. "Marry, have a
family, spend some time with my familyshare the last years of my
grandmother's life with her." Deskovic was 17 years old when he was
ordered to spend his life in prison.
In 2004, Ryan Matthew, convicted for the murder of a local convenience
store owner in Louisiana, escaped the death penalty after prosecutors
dropped all charges on the basis of DNA testing results.
There are other stories of executions conducted too fast, trials completed
too quickly and mistakes too easily made. And yet, the state-sanctioned
killings continue. Now, DNA testing is helping to prove that innocent
people continue to be killed or placed on death row. It proves that the
U.S. judicial system is flawed; it sends innocent people to jail and,
worse, puts them to death.
Northwestern University School of Law's Centre on Wrongful Convictions
(CWC) documented at least 38 executions carried out in the United States
in spite of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt
since capital punishment was restored in the mid-1970s. According to this
study, while innocence has not been proven in any specific case, there is
reasonable doubt that some of the executed prisoners were innocent.
Moreover, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has documented 123
death-row inmates who, since 1973, have been exonerated and freed before
their executions.
Officially, courts do not consider claims of innocence after a person has
been executed. In the past, people attempting to prove innocence had to do
so by re-examining the evidence and re-interviewing witnesses and
investigators, with no finality granted them. In the last 20 years,
however, they have had a new tool: DNA testing.
While DNA testing was still viewed with suspicion by prosecutors in the
1980s, nowadays its implementation and accessibility has shown it
essential in many trials. As it has become more accepted, it has provided
an absolute that previously was not available.
"DNA has introduced dramatic changes in the whole criminal justice system.
Now capital executions are viewed in a more sceptical light thanks to this
testing," Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty
Information Centre (DPIC), told IPS.
Except in the case of identical twins, the structure of a person's DNA is
unique. About 10 per cent of DNA contains chromosomes. The rest of it is
"non-coding" DNA, partly made up of identical sequences. Experts analyse
"repeat units" to compile a person's genetic profile, which takes the form
of a series of figures and becomes essential for investigations.
"Recently, with DNA death-row exonerations, those who may support the
death penalty in principle have questioned its legitimacy given the risk
that we may have executed -- we may execute -- an innocent person.," Sarah
Tofte, researcher for the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch, told IPS.
This has led some prosecutors, law enforcement officials, conservative
politicians and others to support moratoriums on the death penalty, if not
outright abolition. The staff of the CWC pioneered the investigation and
litigation of wrongful convictions, relying a great deal on DNA testing.
Their work proving the innocence of 11 men sitting on death row in the
U.S. state of Illinois was a driving force behind former Governor George
H. Ryan's decision to suspend executions in Illinois in January, 2001.
The Innocence Project, which worked to free Deskovic, only handles cases
where post-conviction DNA tests can yield conclusive proof of innocence.
To date, it has helped exonerate 184 people, proving that wrongful
convictions are not rare.
DNA tests point up the underlying need to reform of the criminal justice
system, including a halt to the death penalty, human rights experts said.
"In my opinion, the recent exonerations of both death-row inmates and
other prisoners represent just the tip of the iceberg of the failures of
our criminal justice system. There is an intolerably high risk that many,
many prisoners currently incarcerated are in fact innocent, including many
death-row inmates," John Holdridge, director of the Capital Punishment
Project for the ACLU, told IPS.
Until the late 1990s, DNA testing was seldom used due to the high cost,
which ran into thousands of dollars. Recently, with the improvement of new
technologies, the price has dropped to about 1,000 dollars, a small amount
compared to the average cost of a trial. Texas, for instance, with over
300 people on death row, spends an estimated 2.3 million dollars per case,
according to the DPIC.
"Now almost everybody can afford the cost of a DNA test. It should be
freely and automatically available to every death-row inmate and every
person charged with a crime. Furthermore, it should be freely available to
every prisoner with a substantial claim of innocence," Holdridge said.
DNA tests played a substantial role in establishing prisoners' innocence
in at least 14 cases of the 123 exonerations since 1973, according to the
DPIC.
Nonetheless, the scope of DNA is limited to the few individual cases in
which biological evidence is available. For every DNA exoneration, there
are countless cases where testing cannot help because no DNA was left on
the scene or the evidence had been lost or destroyed.
"DNA testing is a very good tool to prove the innocence of inmates, but
unfortunately it does not mean the end of erroneous capital executions,"
Holdridge said.
But it does point up the weaknesses in the U.S. justice system: Innocent
people still are being put to death by the government.
"Hopefully people worldwide will continue to be concerned and indignant
about the capital punishment issue. What is essential for succeeding is
that people recognise it as a major diminishing of human values," Dieter
said.
(source: IPS)