I see capital punishment like a lot of things--fine in theory but messy in practice. Sure, there are plenty of psychos who deserve to die for heniuos crimes, but often times the crimes of those executed are more run of the mill. Wrong county or state, wrong time. Also, and more importantly, the system, which often includes elected judges and prosecutors and barely funded defense attorneys, seems stacked against defendants, such that it begins to appear very likely that a significant percent (say 5%) of people executed for crimes are actually innocent. (This is particularly true because innocent people may be less likely to accept a plea bargain.)

Well, in September the New Yorker published a 17 page article about a man in Texas who was executed for arson in a fire that killed his children. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...7fa_fact_grann Partly as a result of controversy arising from the case, Texas set up a commission to investigate forensic errors, and the commission started reviewing the case. Now, just as the commission's findings were going to be made public, Governor Perry has fired four members. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/11/...ecution.probe/ This appears to be a political or at least ideological ("God-loving Texans don't make mistakes in killing people") move.

Governor Perry was already on the national radar for some stupid comments he made about succession, but this new episode seems downright evil. Is this receiving much play in Texas and, if so, how? Will Perry feel any negative effects? Also, are the risks of capital punishment too high given its dubious deterrent effect? If they are not too high, what number of innocently executed people are acceptable for every, say, 100 correctly executed people?

Capital punishment costs more money, leads to wrongful executions and gives the state the power to kill.

I'm sure in the future we will move away from it.

capital punishment for the win

Already a thread about this I think.

God help us all if we're dumb enough to reelect this guy (hint: we are).

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/41...person-576001/

There's actually some new information here that maybe deserves its own thread, namely this:

The committee was, in all likelihood, going to publically declare that Texas is the first state to execute an innocent person. This would of course be an incredible embarrassment for Governor Perry, the parts of the Texas political establishment that have made Texas the largest purveyor of the death penalty in the country, and the legal community that defends the death penalty and claim this wouldn't happen (quote Judge Scalia: there is not "a single case—not one—in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent’s name would be shouted from the rooftops.”). It may have even exposed Perry and others to civil or criminal liability, although that's far less likely.

So Perry let the committee go in a transparent and obvious effort to save face.

This is heinous, of course.

Chicago Tribune

I think the Tribune was the paper that broke this story.