Fallibility and Finality: Type II Errors and Capital Punishment (From Challenging Capital Punishment: Legal and Social Science Approaches, P 91-112, 1988, Kenneth C Haas and James A Inciardi, eds. -- See NCJ-113635)

• NCJ Number: 113639
• Author(s): M L Radelet; H A Bedau
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After locating and documenting 20th-century cases involving 350 defendants who were either erroneously convicted of a capital crime or who were convicted of crimes that never occurred, this paper concludes that such erroneous decisions are not outweighed by any proven benefits of capital punishment.

Abstract

In 309 of the cases, the state implicitly or explicitly admitted error. In 6 cases, the researchers' belief in a defendant's innocence was based on the considered judgement of a state official in a position to know. In 15 cases, the researchers relied on the preponderance of informed opinion. Significant empirical evidence of benefits that can outweigh these costs of the deaths of innocent persons are not found, and the fallibility of the justice system is suggested. 38 references.