A proposed bill in the U.S. Congress that would limit the number of appeals allowed to death row inmates would significantly reduce the time spent on death row and the associated costs. But this benefit pales in comparison to the danger of executing the wrongfully convicted, who would not have as many chances to appeal their sentences under the new law.
Legislators should understand that the death penalty has never proven to be foolproof, and in fact has never even come close. For all its accomplishments, the justice system cannot be trusted enough to sentence men and women to death when there exists the possibility that such a sentence could be in error.
The state House of Representatives acknowledged this on Tuesday, when it defeated Gov. Mitt Romney’s proposal to allow the death penalty only when the evidence is heavily weighted against the defendant. The majority of state legislators agree that regardless of the advances made in the analysis of DNA evidence, errors still occur.
In 1999 a Northwestern University professor and his journalism students began studying the case of Anthony Porter, who had been sentenced to death row for murder. After looking into the case, the professor and his students discovered that the state of Illinois had committed a terrible error in convicting Porter. He was exonerated days before he was scheduled to be killed.
With all due respect to the abilities of a college professor and his students, if they are capable of revealing deep flaws in the nation’s justice system, it is all too obvious that to create even more room for error in these cases of life and death would be a great disservice to the nation.
Congress should decide whether it values a speedier justice system over the lives of men and women who may have been wrongfully convicted. Aside from completely abolishing the death penalty, the best way to prevent innocents from being mistakenly executed is to give them as many opportunities as possible to appeal their convictions. Unfortunately, this bill would do exactly the opposite. Until the death penalty is proven reliable, Congress should recognize that nothing less than the fair treatment of citizens is at stake, and reject this legislation.
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