Debate Over Death Penalty
It is eight years overdue, but 1984, as envisioned by George Orwell, has finally arrived. The representatives of his Ministries of Truth and Justice, “Texas state prosecutors, joined by lawyers for the Bush Administration,” proclaim that the execution of those wrongly convicted of murder is sanctioned “so long as the trial procedures were constitutional.” The argument reduces itself to a plea that all that matters is that justice appears to be done--whether or not it is in fact done.
Justice Antonin Scalia is quoted as being concerned about the burdens put on, or the damage done to, the criminal justice system by allowing appellate courts to consider new evidence of innocence. What of the damage done to a criminal justice system that permits an innocent person to be executed? That is not justice and its administration not a criminal justice system.
Your reporter said that the exchange on the subject was “remarkable.” “Sad” might have been a more appropriate adjective.
BERNARD J. ROSEN
Attorney, Santa Monica
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