• cosecantphi [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    I've seen a study before that found something like 4% of death row prisoners are actually innocent and falsely convicted, and if I recall correctly that was a lowball. Listening to some true crime podcasts where an obviously innocent person was convicted, I was shocked to find out the absolutely psychopathic lengths cops will sometimes go to destroy the life of a clearly innocent person at the cost of letting the actual perpetrator go free.

    They'll tell any lie they can if they think they can get a confession out of you for it. They'll make up some bullshit about how they have infrared satellites watching your every move through buildings and computer software that can tell them if you're lying. Needless to say this often pressures people into giving false confessions. It should be illegal for them to lie to adults too, never mind children.

    Anyway, just imagine what that statistic is like for non-death penalty cases where there isn't as much of a threshold for "beyond a reasonable doubt." Now imagine what that number is like for non-violent crimes where that threshold is even lower. And on top of that all the people in for bullshit crimes like drug possession that should absolutely not be crimes.

    The United States prison system is an atrocity on an unbelievable scale and is the epitome of what liberals should be thinking of instead when they talk about gulags in the Soviet Union. I'm not going to defend China's propensity for so liberally applying the death penalty, but regardless it's laughable that somehow they have the reputation as being the most authoritarian country on Earth while the United States exist.

    • MarxMadness [comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      In non-death penalty cases, especially for minor offenses, there are all sorts of inducements for an innocent person to plead guilty. The choice is often:

      • Sit in jail until trial because you can't make bail, then face all the charges they can think up; or
      • Get out now and take a plea deal for reduced charges.

      If you have a job, or a family that depends on you, or bills to pay, which option are you choosing?