The Frederick News Post publishes the OpEd, "Maryland's death penalty decision," by Karl Bickel.
As a former death penalty proponent, I applaud the actions of our lawmakers in Annapolis during their recent session for repealing the death penalty. I still believe there are people who are such a danger to society and have committed such heinous crimes as to deserve the death penalty. Over the years, in a professional capacity, I have met such people. However, it is not that simple.
The problem is you cannot fix mistakes, and there have been many mistakes, many who had been sentenced to die and only later found to be innocent of the crimes that put them on death row. Criminal justice system fallibility and the finality of an execution are at the heart of the problem. Once a person has been wrongly executed, there is nothing that can be done to make it right.
And:
During a recent trip to Oklahoma, to interview an incarcerated serial killer (a story for another time), I spoke with a retired Oklahoma City homicide detective who had been involved in several high-profile cases, some of which were featured in Mark Fuhrman’s book “Death and Justice.” He said that having been involved in a high-profile case that resulted in a wrongful conviction, he now knows how easy it is to give undue weight to evidence that was too good to be true, evidence that should have raised suspicion.
Though we all may not agree with them, there are many legitimate objections to the death penalty, ranging from religious beliefs to the inconsistencies in its application. Mine is simple. You can’t fix a mistake, and there are too many mistakes.
Earlier coverage of Maryland's repeal of the death peanlty begins at the link.
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