Today's Lincoln Journal Star publishes the editorial, "Another blow to death penalty."
The fallibility of the criminal justice system in applying the death penalty has been demonstrated again this month.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced last week its review of old criminal cases has found as many as 27 death penalty convictions that might have been based on invalid scientific testimony.
The review was announced a year ago by the FBI after three men were exonerated by DNA testing. Their convictions had been based in part on testimony on hair analysis from FBI lab experts.
In May, the review led to an 11th-hour stay of execution in a Mississippi double homicide case.
At issue is trial testimony from FBI experts that the organization now says “exceeded the limits of science.”
And:
The decline in death penalty support also is found among conservatives.
That shouldn't be surprising. After all, a distrust of government and a desire to limit the power of the state are fundamental to the conservative credo.
It should be natural for conservatives to be reluctant to give the state the ultimate power to take an inmate's life. When the state mistakenly executes the wrong person, there's no possibility to reverse the sentence.
The FBI review of hair analysis cases is another demonstration of how prone the death penalty system is to error. The Legislature should take that into account the next time it considers whether to add Nebraska to the growing list of states that have repealed the death penalty.
Earlier coverage of the FBI's flawed forensics testimony begins at the link.
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