# Executed child found to be innocent **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 18, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549 "2014-12-18T04:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/1 "2014-12-18T04:24:11Z")
[Here’s the story of 14 year old George Stinney Jr.](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/exonerated-after-execution-judge-tosses-teens-murder-conviction-n270176), convicted of beating two white girls to death in 1944, and posthumously exonerated just this morning. I guess you could say “justice” was swift for the 95 lb. boy-although there were no witnesses to the crime itself, and his family said he was with them that day, the trial only lasted three hours, the all-white jury only deliberated 10 minutes, and he was put in the electric chair only three months later. I wonder if that’s what people are wanting when they say the problem with the death penalty is that it takes too long to go through with it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Joker_and_the_Thief)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/2 "2014-12-18T04:32:33Z")
In Roper v. Simmons SCOTUS abolished the death penalty for those under 18. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/3 "2014-12-18T04:38:22Z")
These guys are the reason: [http://blog.sfgate.com/crime/2014/07/16/notorious-california-death-row-inmates/](http://blog.sfgate.com/crime/2014/07/16/notorious-california-death-row-inmates/) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/4 "2014-12-18T05:45:34Z")
I’m as anti-DP as they come, but the goings on in the Jim Crow south isn’t much of an argument against it in 2014. That was a horrible miscarriage of justice in so many ways, but nothing like that could happen today. Under 18. Can’t happen today. All white jury convicts black person w/ DP. Can’t happen today. 3 months trial to execution. Can’t happen today. Sorry, but this is appeal to emotion. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/5 "2014-12-18T06:19:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Sorry, but this is appeal to emotion. Heck, the DP itself is an appeal to emotion. Its practical value, especially considering the costs of implementation, is tenuous at best. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/6 "2014-12-18T06:21:05Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m as anti-DP as they come, but the goings on in the Jim Crow south isn’t much of an argument against it in 2014. That was a horrible miscarriage of justice in so many ways, but nothing like that could happen today. > > Under 18. Can’t happen today. > All white jury convicts black person w/ DP. Can’t happen today. [List of Juvenile offenders executed in the United States since 1976.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_juvenile_offenders_executed_in_the_United_States_since_1976) From [this site:](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/studies-racial-discrimination-jury-selection-continues-death-penalty-cases) > [@](#): > > In North Carolina, at least 26 current death row inmates were sentenced by all-white juries. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/7 "2014-12-18T06:37:26Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m as anti-DP as they come, but the goings on in the Jim Crow south isn’t much of an argument against it in 2014. That was a horrible miscarriage of justice in so many ways, but nothing like that could happen today. > > Under 18. Can’t happen today. > All white jury convicts black person w/ DP. Can’t happen today. > 3 months trial to execution. Can’t happen today. > Sorry, but this is appeal to emotion. When you can say: “Executing an innocent person. Can’t happen today.” please let us know. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/8 "2014-12-18T06:52:39Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > When you can say: > > “Executing an innocent person. Can’t happen today.” > > please let us know. Executing an innocent person can’t happen today. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/9 "2014-12-18T07:08:09Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > When you can say: > > “Executing an innocent person. Can’t happen today.” > > please let us know. I don’t think that’s the strongest argument against the DP. Is it really better to lock up an innocent person in person for the rest of their life? I’m against the DP because I don’t think a civilized country needs to deliberately kill its citizens today. It doesn’t reduce crime, and it isn’t necessary. But arguing that it was bad in the Jim Crow south is an argument against everything in the Jim Crow south. I expect that plenty of innocent blacks were sentenced to life in prison in the Jim Crow south, and many of them died in prison. Appeal to emotion. I don’t like it when someone on my side of the issue uses a weak argument in support of that issue. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/10 "2014-12-18T08:26:55Z")
Well, dash it all, I’ll come right out and say it: It is very wrong to execute a fourteen-year-old for something he didn’t do. There, now it’s out. I’m glad we felt able to have this conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/11 "2014-12-18T08:27:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m as anti-DP as they come, but the goings on in the Jim Crow south isn’t much of an argument against it in 2014. That was a horrible miscarriage of justice in so many ways, but nothing like that could happen today. > > Under 18. Can’t happen today. > All white jury convicts black person w/ DP. Can’t happen today. > 3 months trial to execution. Can’t happen today. > Sorry, but this is appeal to emotion. Much anti-slavery campaigning was an appeal to emotion- emotion is about empathy and interpersonal identification. Both bondage and judicial killing are emotional issues that are open to appeals to emotion. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/12 "2014-12-18T08:51:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Executing an innocent person can’t happen today. What a giant load of horses hit. Any country that has the death penalty can execute innocent people. And no, I’m not anti-American. I very much like New Zealand and Norway and I and I suspect most people reading this would laugh if someone arrogantly proclaimed “In Norwary we could never imprison an innocent person” or “There are no innocent Kiwis in prison.” Any system designed by humans will have flaws. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/13 "2014-12-18T09:30:59Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t think that’s the strongest argument against the DP. Is it really better to lock up an innocent person in person for the rest of their life? The main point to this argument, at least when I use it, is that a living person still has at least some chance at exoneration and freedom. Also, some people can manage to still find some meaning and purpose in life even while incarcerated. > **[Robert Stroud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stroud)** > > Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28, 1890 – November 21, 1963), known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was a convicted murderer, American federal prisoner, and author who has been cited as one of the most notorious criminals in the United States. During his time at Leavenworth Penitentiary, he reared and sold birds and became a respected ornithologist. From 1942 to 1959, he was incarcerated at Alcatraz, where regulations did not allow him to keep birds. Stroud was never released from the fed Born i... If someone does decide that death is better than a lifetime of incarceration, it’s probably not that hard to get oneself killed in the kind of prison that they send murderers to, but that should be the decision of the individual, not the courts. (I realize that you’re against the DP, I’m just addressing your comments on this one particular argument.) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/14 "2014-12-18T09:37:39Z")
> [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](#): > > In Roper v. Simmons SCOTUS abolished the death penalty for those under 18. I had a little side bet with myself that the above ruling happened in the last decade…yup, 2005. Better late than never I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/15 "2014-12-18T09:50:47Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Executing an innocent person can’t happen today. [We can come pretty fucking close.](http://www.cracked.com/article_21908_6-things-i-learned-as-innocent-man-death-row.html) ---
**Author:** ![fridolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85f322/32.png) [@fridolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fridolph)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/16 "2014-12-18T10:01:39Z")
Reality bite most in the article are true. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/17 "2014-12-18T10:35:33Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Executing an innocent person can’t happen today. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/18 "2014-12-18T11:27:25Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Cite? Cite that an innocent person has been executed in the US in this century? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/19 "2014-12-18T11:29:36Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > [We can come pretty fucking close.](http://www.cracked.com/article_21908_6-things-i-learned-as-innocent-man-death-row.html) He was exonerated, right? The system works. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549/20 "2014-12-18T11:45:01Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > He was exonerated, right? The system works. Tell that the child in the OP. They thought the system was working then, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/executed-child-found-to-be-innocent/707549.md?page=2)