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Originally posted by Angrist
Why not let those prisoners rot in their cels? So if some day they find new evidence, they can set innocent people free. If they're really innocent, they can't harm others.
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Oh yeah, because letting people rot in prison is so much better than killing them. Not to mention the expense (hey, you have to consider it).
Besides, guilty verdicts aren't overturned very often, especially verdicts in capital cases. Given that it takes a lot of time for a condemned criminal to actually get executed (several years), the chances of a pardon are probably just as good as the chances of being freed from a lifetime imprisonment.
And besides that, people who spend several years in prison have an extraordinarily tough time getting integrated into society again. It's not as easy as just opening the doors to their cell and letting them walk out.
I personally am against the death penalty for a number of reasons, but at least I can say that I have considered all of the above points in forming my opinion. From your posts here, I have the feeling that you haven't. You view isn't just uninformed. It's simplistic.
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And when evidence is found while inspectors didn't have a search warrant or something, the evidence is considered false or something so they set people free. While the evidence is clear as glass.
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So are you saying we should get rid of search warrants? Are you saying that police should have the right to break down the door of any house, charge in and start turning the place upside down just because they feel like it? And without the need for a warrant detailing what they're looking for, the police will also be able to confiscate anything they want. That's what a search warrant is for, you know. It's to ensure that the police have a reasonable cause for invading the privacy of a person (not to mention possibly causing damage). Yes, perhaps it allows some guilty people to go free. That's inevitable, and we just have to live with the reality that people aren't perfect. What's also inevitable is that without search warrants, police search and seizure will be abused.
I have my issues with the American justice system. For one thing, juries are often composed of complete ignorants, and the tort system is a mess. But unlike you, Angrist, I'm not just going to point fingers without proposing a solution. And I recognize that the problem is much bigger than your average jury not knowing what DNA is. After all, that issue is tied to the quality of the education system. Well, a lot of schools don't have enough funding to provide a proper education. They might do better if the economy was running well. But to get the economy to do well, consumer confidence has to be good (how do you change consumer confidence?), and maybe you should cut taxes. Or maybe raise taxes. Economists aren't quite sure. Of course, having more money won't necessarily make the schools better. There's also a strong anti-intellectual and anti-learning element to American culture. How can you fix that? Well, maybe you can regulate the popular media. Oh, but that's infringing on free speech. Not a good idea. Still, you can't deny that movies don't usually glamorize learning. Maybe you should convince studios to do that. But then you'd have to convince them that there's money to be made by doing that. Maybe there is, come to think of it, but maybe there isn't. How do you know? Maybe you should do some studies...
All this and more just to try to make sure that juries know what the hell is going on when they get into a courtroom. So what do you propose we do about it, Angrist?