PRO: "...No system of justice can produce results which are 100% certain all the time. Mistakes will be made in any system which relies upon human testimony for proof. We should be vigilant to uncover and avoid such mistakes. Our system of justice rightfully demands a higher standard for death penalty cases. However, the risk of making a mistake with the extraordinary due process applied in death penalty cases is very small, and there is no credible evidence to show that any innocent persons have been executed at least since the death penalty was reactivated in 1976... The inevitability of a mistake should not serve as grounds to eliminate the death penalty any more than the risk of having a fatal wreck should make automobiles illegal..."
According to Stewart (n.d.), a Juris Doctor, in any system mistakes will be attained which only relies upon human testimony for proof and unavoidability of mistakes is not a grounds for elimination of death penalty. There is no justice system that brings out a 100% certain outcome all the time. The justice system truly demands death penalty cases a higher standard. The risk of causing a mistake with the extraordinary due process is very little in death penalty cases and from the reactivation of the death penalty in 1976 there is no credible grounds of innocent persons executed.
Steven D. Stewart, JD
Prosecuting Attorney for Clark County Indiana
Message on the Clark County Prosecutor website accessed
Aug. 6, 2008 2. DETER
Ernest Van Den Haag, PhD, late Professor of Jurisprudence at Fordham University, in an Oct. 17, 1983 New York TimesOp-Ed article titled "For the Death Penalty," wrote the following:
"Common sense, lately bolstered by statistics, tells us that the death penalty will deter murder, if anything can. People fear nothing more than death. Therefore, nothing will deter a criminal more than the fear of death. Death is final. But where there is life there is hope... Wherefore, life in prison is