Update on an update of a posting on Death in China
Wanting to keep this front and center.........another update of an update of an original post going back at least a year. I want to state I am very pro Death Penalty, as you probably guessed from my personal background and having read previous posts.
Still injustice is injustice. Yet again, despite ALL the publicity and money and time being spent on finding people wrongfully sentenced to Death, I'm amazed the USA is STILL finding innocent civilians that have fallen through the cracks.
Still injustice is injustice. Yet again, despite ALL the publicity and money and time being spent on finding people wrongfully sentenced to Death, I'm amazed the USA is STILL finding innocent civilians that have fallen through the cracks.
It seems to me there are way too many out of control Prosecutors out there....in small towns...their little fiefdoms....that are bent on revenge and a quick end to a case than on Justice being properly meted out. The below is only the latest example.
How many more innocents on Death Row are there??
And as this is very much a China Blog, I yet again want to bring attention to the undeniable fact that if a process driven "always looking at itself in the mirror country" such as America can still find these mistakes in the Justice System after over two decades of focusing on freeing unfairly convicted people......than someone tell me how this is not happening in China????
Country of the private trial.
Country of the 99.5% "conviction upheld and death sentence confirmed" rate?
Who in the Hell was that "one person" whose death conviction in China was overturned? Someone look that guy up!
The below article only again reminds me of how many people are almost certainly wrongfully sentenced to death in China, every year.....and executed.
We will never, ever know.
Yet another downside to not having a free press.
I've written in this blog numerous times about the pros and cons of a Free Press in China. This topic would surely be filed under "pro"......
You’ve read my previous rants on this subject(no, actually you haven’t, but not for the lack of trying on my part…you guys need to get off the relationship posts for a change and read something with substance.), but here I am to force feed you yet again.
When is China gonna release someone due to overwhelming DNA evidence that shows the prisoner is innocent? Takers anyone?
In a country that is as process driven as America is(and the West generally), to still have someone falsely winding up in jail is incredulous. Granted, the above was over twenty years ago.
DNA and Justice in China
When is China gonna release someone due to overwhelming DNA evidence that shows the prisoner is innocent? Takers anyone?
DNA Testing in China vs in America
According to the Innocence Project, there are over 300 people in America that have been exonerated from a crime they have have convicted of, thanks to DNA testing. 18 from Death Row.
More detailed data is below.
I support the Death Penalty. However to my surprise being found guilty of killing someone does not automatically carry a death sentence. A relative of mine was murdered not so long ago, and to my surprise his killer was not given the death sentence. Why? His case did not meet one of the seven criteria that would have qualified the killer for such a sentence. This coming from a very RED state.
I was flabbergasted to hear my relative would not get the “justice” he so deserved.
I honestly believe that the legal process in America is the most time consuming, torturous process internationally on Earth. It strives for perfection. It can take over a year just to try a murder case.
The jury must unanimously reach a verdict. Even the vote of one juror can make a person innocent, and keep the person from jail.
And yet we make mistakes.
How is this possible?
America is unique. It is a country perhaps more than any other that is obsessed with the mythic chase of social perfection. There is no place so self critical. All we hear about in America is how defective we are as a society. I swear that Americans who have never lived abroad would think their country is nothing if not dysfunctional, socially backward, and beyond all hope of progress. At times it is depressing to watch the news, or catch up on current events online. We are a nation obsessed with self improvement.
The use of DNA is an excellent example of how America has used this philosophy to make itself a better place.
Then I got to thinking about China. Another nation that is very, very pro death penalty.(the sentiment is beginning to decline in America)
China is many things but cannot in the least be described as a process driven nation when it comes to Justice. There are no juries. No attorney client priviledge.
Where justice in America is a tool used to keep the power of the State at bay, in China it is a tool used to maintain the power of the State vis a vis the individual.
And there is actually a legal double standard in China for punishing lawbreakers. One for Party members, and one for non Party members.
And now I’m left to wonder about the role of DNA in China today. It is used primarily to conduct paternity testing. But with the speed of the judicial process in China, isn’t it possible that mistakes have occurred? How many people in China sit unjustly imprisoned today? Executed? Not by political fiat but by incompetence?
If mistakes could take place in such a process driven and open society such as the United States, is it possible such a thing could occur in China? And wouldn’t the use of DNA to vet against judicial error be a good thing?
DNA testing in America has brought some confidence back into the American judicial system, and helped to ensure that bad practice does not creep back into how we try the accused.
Will we ever be able to say the same for China?
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