How many innocent people have to die for revenge?

You know we've killed innocent people. We have. In the history of Alabama's death penalty, you know innocent people have been put to death by the state. Been hung, electrocuted, poisoned to death. Probably many. A number of Death Row inmates have been released in recent years after they were found to be not guilty of the crimes they were accused of. How did they get on Death Row in the first place? How many didn't get saved and slipped through the cracks and were executed? By you. By me.

How many innocent men and women is it worth killing to maintain a capital punishment system as flawed as Alabama's? One? Ten? How many? If it were your brother -- or you -- would the collateral damage be worth it to maintain a system that kills people, really for no other reason than revenge?

We don't need capital punishment to keep citizens safe. Life without parole does that. We don't need capital punishment as a deterrent. Study after study has shown the death penalty is no deterrent. Indeed, the states with the most aggressive capital punishment laws have the highest murder rates. States without the death penalty have the lowest murder rates.

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Source: Joey Kennedy, al.com, Sept. 26, 2011

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