The Death Penalty- Should it be reformed- - YouTube

The death penalty has been a part of human civilization and the various legal systems since the earliest of times. It was imposed for many reasons, even for petty crimes, or simply for having an opposing political or religious belief. Crimes such as murder and treason were a given for receiving such punishment, but many crimes also ended in death, such as cattle and horse stealing in the American West. But when the founders wrote the U.S. Constitution and established the laws by which the nation would be governed, they wanted to be more respectful of human life than the Europeans they wanted to separate from. As a result, the Eighth Amendment prevents cruel and unusual punishment, which did not mean death could not be imposed, it just meant death could not be construed as torture. The sentence had to be humane in the process. Let's look at some interesting facts and you, the viewer, can decide. Do we need or even should we have a death penalty? What are the problems with capital punishment? Why is the U.S.A. the only Western industrialized nation that still has the death penalty for civil crimes? Hello, I'm Colin Heaton, former history professor, Army and Marine Corps veteran, and welcome to this episode of Forgotten History. The 18th century English legal scholar William Blackstone wrote, it is better that ten guilty men go free than one innocent man be convicted. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall's speech, The Sword and the Robe, famously stated, I was raised in the days when the prevailing maxim was, it is better that a thousand guilty people go free that one innocent person suffer unjustly. The writer of the Declaration of Independence, scholar and future third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, saw the moral dilemma. Being a lawyer, as were many of the founders, he emphasized protection against forced self-incrimination, torture, and coercion, as well as the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Thomas Jefferson said, paraphrasing, it would be better that 20 guilty men go free than the state wrongly take the life of an innocent man. It is that important. So where did we go wrong? Since 1973, at least 200 individuals who had been on death row in the U.S. have been proven innocent and exonerated. The Death Penalty Information Center, or DPIC, reports that three people were exonerated in 2024, bringing the total to 200 since 1973. Many cases dated back several decades. In some cases, a black defendant was on trial and the jury was often made up of KKK members. Even the police or sheriff's departments, including many judges, were sometimes members. Earlier counts varied. DPIC's innocence list cited 190 exonerations as of February 2023, and some sources reported 189 to 190 around that time. There are several appellate cases still pending in both state and federal courts. Studies from the Department of Justice and FBI correlate to other investigations and all suggest that between 4 and 12 percent of those on death row are likely innocent, a similar number for the general federal and state prison populations, even after accounting for exonerations, highlighting the serious possibility that many more potentially innocent people who have not been and never will get exonerated may die. This is because they cannot afford the private attorneys or private investigators required to navigate the often impossible process of correcting a grievous wrong. While not a death penalty case, a good example of abuse, violations of civil rights, and corruption in prosecution can be seen in our video on the Zoot Suit War, so please see that one. Think about this fact. How many millionaires and politically well-connected people get charged, let alone convicted of murder, who have ever been sentenced to death or even lengthy sentences? Many never get convicted because they can afford the best attorneys and their attorneys are able to make sweetheart deals, such as the Jeffrey Epstein case in Florida where the billionaire was in fact convicted of trafficking in underage girls but escaped any serious punishment or prison time. The Hillary Clinton illegal server case in violation of federal law and the National Security Act is another example of the well-connected being given cover by a corrupt system that protects their own. There is not equal justice in America. It is an illusion. The Hunter Biden laptop case is another example of the well-connected being given cover and that legal and political fallout is still unfolding. See our four-part series on the Biden crime family. Although at least 200 people on death row around the nation have been officially exonerated, research indicates this is probably just a fraction of all wrongful death sentences. The system is far from infallible. In fact, police and prosecutorial misconduct have been proven to be the majority of reasons for wrongful convictions. Racism, bigotry toward a minority defendant, political ambitions are often a weak circumstantial case relying upon unreliable eyewitness testimony or other causes. Forced confessions from suspects by police, planting evidence to get convictions, hiring witnesses to testify who sometimes never even knew the defendant were also in play. In fact, see our video on Harry Connick Sr., possibly the most corrupt district attorney in U.S. history who sent many innocent men to prison and even to death row in New Orleans. Another problem was the fact that in some cases such as in New Orleans and Chicago, police and DAs were notorious for taking inmates pending trial on serious charges or those serving sentences looking to obtain special privileges or parole were recruited to give false testimony against innocent defendants. But why would police and DAs break the law and send innocent men and women to death row or to prison in general? The simple answers are politics and prejudice. Most of these wrongful convictions were obtained against black defendants, the majority during the Jim Crow era. On January 31st, 2000, Governor George Ryan, Republican, declared a moratorium on executions stating that Illinois' system was fraught with error and that he would not allow further executions until I can be sure with moral certainty that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection. His decision came amid revelations that 13 death row inmates had been exonerated, many due to police torture led by former Chicago detective John Burge. The nation was rocked by the scandal that broke in Illinois in the 1990s. Various groups began challenging the supposed evidence or sometimes lack thereof problematic testimonies from witnesses and allegations of police misconduct. Then, as a result of these revelations that emerged proving innocent men were on death row, Ryan triggered the shift by halting executions and commuting death sentences due to wrongful convictions. With two days remaining in his term on January 11th, 2003, Ryan commuted all 167 remaining death sentences in Illinois to life imprisonment, calling the system deeply flawed and unequal. He pardoned four individuals outright, explicitly citing wrongful convictions. This was the largest single act of clemency in modern U.S. history. Ryan's bold move not only halted executions but sparked national debate, influencing many other states to revisit capital punishment. Later, Governor Pat Quinn, Democrat, after a full review by state authorities and the U.S. Department of Justice, prompted by various groups such as the Innocence Project and Death Watch, completed the process by legally abolishing the death penalty in Illinois in 2011. As a result of Quinn's formal abolition, Illinois became a model. You can't ensure infallibility in capital sentencing, so the ultimate punishment was removed. Together, their actions stand as a powerful acknowledgement. If your system risks executing innocent people, the only safe option is to remove that risk permanently. Quinn affirmed that no justice system can be guaranteed 100% error-free and that lingering flaws made capital punishment too dangerous. A few of the key wrongful convictions that fuel these reforms in Illinois are highlighted, and we will go into deeper dives later into each of these cases as time allows. Anthony Porter, within 48 hours of execution, a Northwestern University journalism team uncovered flaws and secured his release. Other convictions relying on expert-driven investigations followed. Stanley Howard was 23 years old when he was sentenced to death based on a confession that was fabricated by Chicago's Area 2 detectives. For the next 15 years, Stanley would live in a jail cell that was no bigger than a standard-sized bathroom until his exoneration. The Ford Heights Four. Four Illinois men wrongfully convicted of murder, including two facing death sentences, were exonerated in 1996. Their case was specifically cited by Ryan in 2000. Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the 1983 kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico in DuPage County, Illinois, resulting in another death penalty case overturned, inspiring the moratorium and abolition debate. In March 2025, Cook County Judge Carol Howard overturned Tyrese Williams' 1990 murder conviction, making him the 50th person exonerated in a case tied to disgraced former Chicago police detective Reynaldo Guevara. Guevara was accused of framing at least 51 people for murder. When a group of mothers, aunts, and sisters found that no officials, not the state's attorney's office, not the mayor's office, wanted to take up their cause, the women went in search of justice themselves. While the corrupt Democrat-run justice system would not charge Guevara with crimes for his perjury, planting evidence, destroying exculpatory evidence, beating confessions out of people, manipulating witnesses into selecting the innocent from lineups, and violations of people's civil rights, he was tried in a civil case by the families and victims. We will have a special video on this guy in the future, so stand by. The state of Illinois paid out over 40 million dollars in compensation to those who were exonerated. Other states also had serious problems with wrongful convictions, such as Florida, which had 30 exonerations, the most of any state. Illinois had 22. Texas had 18. Pennsylvania had 13. North Carolina and Louisiana had 12 each. Ohio, Arizona, and Oklahoma had 11 each. Others vary from 7 in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi to single digits in 13 additional states. As a result of public awareness, the average yearly exonerations rose 3.0 per year from 1973 to 1999, 4.3 per year from 2000 to 2020. The latest exoneration was reached in early 2024. There are some notable cases that highlight the problems in the system, especially after DNA testing was developed and improved over time. Kirk Bloodsworth was the first death row inmate exonerated thanks to DNA testing in Maryland in 1993. Walter McMillan in Alabama was also exonerated in 1993, and his case inspired Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. In Texas, Randall Dale Adams' wrongful conviction was exposed in 1989 in the Thin Blue Line documentary. Curtis Flowers in Mississippi was exonerated in 2020 after six trials and nearly 25 years on death row. Ricky Jackson, Ronnie Bridgman, Wiley Bridgman in Ohio were released after decades on death row when a key witness recanted and admitted that they were pressured to testify by the prosecution. Official misconduct by police and prosecutors was a factor in about 70% of all cases. False testimony or perjury was involved in 65% of convictions. DNA exoneration soared after the early 1990s, though many wrongful convictions still have no DNA link and were mostly circumstantial cases, many relying upon questionable eyewitness testimony. As a result of better science, at least 200 people have officially avoided conviction and execution in the modern era, but the likelihood of wrongful conviction remains concerningly high. But why? The greatest problem with appeals for death row inmates or anyone doing a prison sentence who files an appeal are that the DAs will fight tooth and nail to prevent tests of evidence that may vacate their conviction. DAs are elected politicians and their careers are dependent upon their tough-on-crime posture and conviction rates. This sometimes plays a role in unscrupulous prosecutors and police in arresting the wrong people. Sometimes they know they were charging the wrong person. People targeted because they fit a certain profile were indigent and unable to hire expensive defense attorneys and were easy marks. High-profile crimes and even supposed crimes that really have no evidence to support the charges were still pursued by DAs who needed a win for re-election. One famous case, while not a death penalty trial, was the Duke La Crosse case and see our video on that case and disbarred Durham, North Carolina, prosecutor Michael Nyfong. Sometimes prosecutors and police withhold exculpatory evidence, such as Connick and Nyfong, whether it was material evidence or hiding or intimidating witnesses who could prove the defendant was innocent, thereby destroying the prosecution's case. All these events occurred on most of the cases cited. This was especially true of Connick in New Orleans, but he is just one classic example. It is ironic that the states with the highest population and busiest justice systems, such as Florida, Illinois, and Texas, have the most death penalty convictions, but they also have the most exonerations. The rise in exonerations per year reflects growing scrutiny, DNA testing, and legal advocacy, but still leaves many cases unresolved. Here are a few other examples of individuals who were executed but later found to have been innocent after their deaths. Joe Aherty was killed in the gas chamber in 1939 in Colorado, and he was posthumously pardoned in 2011. Perhaps the most egregious case was that of George Stinney Jr. in South Carolina in the electric chair in 1944 at age 14. Stinney's conviction was vacated on December 16, 2014, after his innocence was proven by a research team. Alexander McClay Williams also died by electrocution in 1931 in Pennsylvania, and he was exonerated on June 13, 2022. These are just a few examples of how the justice system is flawed and often gets it wrong. Politics is often the prime motivator for illegal and corrupt judicial proceedings, where the court system should be the most apolitical arena of justice in our nation. One only needs to look at the politically motivated, vindictive, and in fact illegal prosecutions of President Donald Trump by New York Democrat Prosecutor Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James. James campaigned for re-election on the platform of finding a crime against Trump and others. They fabricated a case and then tampered with potential witness testimony and tried to withhold exculpatory evidence. Those officers of the court both now have their own legal troubles. Politically motivated and biased criminal proceedings were further illustrated by the Fulton County, Georgia indictments of Trump and 18 others in a fraudulent racketeering prosecution case for challenging the integrity of the 2020 election. But there were honest police and prosecutors, but the system of retaliation against those who come forward can be ruthless. Former Chicago police detective Beth Sweck alleged in a 2017 lawsuit that the department retaliated against her after she brought forward evidence contradicting two officers' narrative of an arrest the year before. Basically, they lied and she proved it. Retaliation was swift. A Cook County, Illinois jury awarded Sweck more than 4.3 million dollars in damages after deciding the city violated the Illinois Whistleblower Act. Sweck's lawyer, Torea Hamilton, said the verdict should motivate good police officers to come forward when they witness wrongdoing. These processes are not new and have in fact been endemic in our political and judiciary history. Also, it is important to note that it costs taxpayers far more to prosecute and then handle the often many years long appellate process and death penalty case than it does to incarcerate an inmate for life. So, in conclusion, do we need a death penalty? You the viewer can come to your own conclusions. Thank you for watching this episode of Forgotten History. If you liked what you saw, please click like, share, and subscribe. And if you would like to assist with the ever-increasing costs of production, please consider becoming a channel member and joining our Patreon page. Please check out our merchandise store and thanks for watching.