The execution of Marcellus Williams, who was put to death by the state of Missouri last week over the protests of a prosecutor and the family of the woman he was convicted of murdering, exemplifies why the death penalty is a stain on the conscience of this country.
It is not just that the practice is barbaric . Our justice system is also incapable of convicting the right person 100% of the time.
“If there is even the shadow of a doubt of innocence, the death penalty should never be an option,” said St. Louis County’s chief prosecutor, Wesley Bell, who argued that Williams, 55, should be spared.
Are we really willing to accept the wrongful execution of a few innocents as the price we pay for getting it right most of the time? That is a preposterous moral bargain.
Since 1992, according to the Death Penalty Information Center , newly available DNA evidence has led to the exoneration and release of more than 20 death row inmates. Since 1973, the center reports, at least 200 people who were sentenced to death have been exonerated.