Quote:
Originally Posted by Rococo
David,
What you say is correct mathematically, but any attempt to operationalize a distinction between "beyond a reasonable doubt" and "really, really, really beyond a reasonable doubt" is doomed to fail. It's an exercise in illusory precision.
The only practical way to really address the problem of occasionally executing someone who is factually innocent is to abolish the death penalty.
An ex-colleague of mine, who was a project manager, referred to estimates that were quoted to a much higher degree of precision than was warranted by methodology used to arrive at them as "the false comfort of spurious detail".