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US seeks quicker death sentences
I'm not entirely sure what to think about this story. On one hand I am delighted. I don't see how spending 10yrs in prison waiting for death is justifiable. Yes they could be released if found not-guilty in the meantime but the mental anguish they must go through in that time, and the struggle that they go through on release must be nearly insurmountable.
On the other hand, isn't a large part of the reason it takes so long to allow people the opportunity to appeal and to prove their innocence? If you shorten this then you're shortening someone's chances to live, to be proven innocent.
According to http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070612-1527-ca-deathrowsuicides.html - the average death row "stay" is 17.5 years!
I'm curious what the suicide rate of people who have been found innocent/released from "death row" is...
I'm not entirely sure what to think about this story. On one hand I am delighted. I don't see how spending 10yrs in prison waiting for death is justifiable. Yes they could be released if found not-guilty in the meantime but the mental anguish they must go through in that time, and the struggle that they go through on release must be nearly insurmountable.
On the other hand, isn't a large part of the reason it takes so long to allow people the opportunity to appeal and to prove their innocence? If you shorten this then you're shortening someone's chances to live, to be proven innocent.
According to http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070612-1527-ca-deathrowsuicides.html - the average death row "stay" is 17.5 years!
I'm curious what the suicide rate of people who have been found innocent/released from "death row" is...
drained
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