Democrats and the death penalty. I'm probably in the minority here, but I just can't stomach

[DFW]

18. My main objection is that one executed innocent person is one too many

The USA has executed plenty of people who were convicted of capital crimes on either questionable evidence, or downright fraudulent evidence. Convenience to the prosecutor, satisfying the thirst for revenge on the part of the family who lost a loved one, the mere fact that no one had been sentenced to death recently, and "it was about time,"--ALL of the above have arguably been cause for executing people in our country.

Voltaire said in 1749 (and was paraphrased by both Ben Franklin and William Blackstone): ’tis much more Prudence to acquit two Persons, tho’ actually guilty, than to pass Sentence of Condemnation on one that is virtuous and innocent. US "justice" has proved all too bloodthirsty to allow an objective discussion on the "merits" of the death penalty. As long as there is even the remotest chance that an innocent might be wrongly executed there must be no executions. The Ox-Bow Incident was not based purely on fiction, even if it was fiction itself.