DNA Evidence Won't Save Innocent People from Death Penalty



By Amnesty International , Working to Protect Human Rights
Feb 18, 2009

Are we as a society okay with even one innocent life being 
accidentally taken in the name of justice? We shouldn’t be. Just as 
there is never an excuse for the cold-blooded murder of an innocent 
life, there is also ever an excuse for the execution of an innocent 
life in the name of justice. What if the person wrongfully convicted 
and executed were your brother or sister? Your father? Your husband 
or wife?

The justice system, administered by fallible human beings, can never 
be perfect. While we can strive to improve the system to the best of 
our ability, the death penalty is the only punishment which is 
irreversible – and an irreversible punishment is unacceptable in an 
imperfect system. Any risk of executing an innocent person is 
inexcusable, inhumane and unjust.

Are we as a society okay with even one innocent life being 
accidentally taken in the name of justice? We shouldn’t be. Just as 
there is never an excuse for the cold-blooded murder of an innocent 
life, there is also ever an excuse for the execution of an innocent 
life in the name of justice. What if the person wrongfully convicted 
and executed were your brother or sister? Your father? Your husband 
or wife?

The justice system, administered by fallible human beings, can never 
be perfect. While we can strive to improve the system to the best of 
our ability, the death penalty is the only punishment which is 
irreversible – and an irreversible punishment is unacceptable in an 
imperfect system. Any risk of executing an innocent person is 
inexcusable, inhumane and unjust.

As of November 2008, 130 people have been exonerated from death row 
in the United States. DNA testing has resulted in 225 exonerations, 
mostly in non-capital cases, and these numbers continue to rise. The 
advent of DNA has helped tremendously in its ability to prove guilt 
or innocence, and has been instrumental in overturning many wrongful 
convictions. The thing is, every man and woman who has proven that 
they were wrongfully convicted will tell you that they are actually 
the lucky ones. They will tell you that there are others like them 
who are still in prison – and others like them for whom it is now too 
late, for they have been executed.

According to the Innocence Project, “only a fraction of criminal 
cases involve biological evidence that can be subjected to DNA 
testing, and even when such evidence exists, it is often lost or 
destroyed after a conviction. Since they don’t have access to a 
definitive test like DNA, many wrongfully convicted people have a 
slim chance of ever proving their innocence.”

Kirk Bloodsworth was one of the lucky ones. After being wrongfully 
convicted of the sexual assault and murder of a nine-year-old girl in 
Maryland, Bloodsworth came close to paying the ultimate price for a 
horrible crime that he did not commit. He was convicted twice of the 
murder, and spent almost nine years in prison. Yet he was lucky when, 
in 1992, the prosecution agreed to a newly developed form of testing 
called DNA. Bloodsworth went on to become the first capital 
conviction in the U.S. to be overturned as a result of DNA testing.

In Georgia, a man named Troy Davis currently sits on death row for 
the murder of a police officer in Savannah – also a horrible crime. 
Davis’ conviction consisted solely of eyewitness testimony, yet since 
trial 7 of the 9 eyewitnesses have recanted or contradicted their 
testimony – casting serious doubt on the evidence that was used to 
convict him. Despite the strong evidence indicating that he may be 
innocent, Davis has now faced three execution dates, once coming 
within 2 hours of death, and remains at risk of execution. Unlike in 
Bloodsworth’s case, there is no DNA evidence available with which to 
prove Davis’ guilt or innocence.

DNA exonerations cannot solve the serious problems that clearly exist 
in our criminal justice system, as illustrated by the case of Troy 
Davis above. But they do illuminate the need for serious reform 
within the criminal justice system. Not the least of which is repeal 
of the death penalty.

http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-dna-evidence-won-t-save-
innocent-people-from-death-penalty