Capital punishment, or execution by the government, has been debated hotly. Recently other, seemingly more important, issues have dominated the news. The Trump administration has executed more death row prisoners than the Federal Government has in the last 5 decades (Huffington Post).
Most states that have the death penalty on the books have instituted a moratorium because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s just too risky to have outsiders in the prison to witness executions. Trump however, seems to be in a rush to execute more before he turns the White House over to Biden. Why would he or anyone else in his administration even care? They are on their way out.
Since 1973, 172 death row inmates have been exonerated of their crimes (Chicago Sun Times). DNA testing technology has allowed for those crimes to be re evaluated with surprising results. 172 inmates been spared and undeserved death, but 172 murders have gone unpunished, the real perpetrators are still at large. How many people have been wrongfully executed during this time? It’s hard to say and I don’t know that any of those cases having been re investigated.
From my case studies these three received sentences of life in prison for their crimes.
From my case studies these guys all received the death sentence except Dahmer. All the executions were carried out relatively quickly. Dahmer was beaten to death in prison like Jeffrey Epstein.
It might be interesting for the reader to see if there are any factors that might contribute to one of them being in one list rather than the other.
On the 12th of January Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to be executed. This woman has lived a life of constant abuse. Her story is carried in this article by the Guardian. Let’s hope the judge grants a stay as Biden intends to reverse this ill advised policy of rapid fire executions.
Edit Jan 12th, 2021 — A Judge granted a stay on the execution of Lisa Montgomery pending a competency hearing. Here’s a related Post and Case Study. This guy was executed on 30 December as part of the same push.