The Real Tom Robinson
In Harper Lee's sole novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a young black man- Tom Robinson- is falsely imprisoned for the rape of a privileged white girl. Robinson was killed by the prison guards after making an attempt to escape. Now, a 45 year old black man who was prosecuted for the rape of a white woman has been released from prison by a judge following prosecutors'reexamining of the case and introduction of DNA evidence which cleared his name. Michael Green, the ex-convict, has been offered 2.2 million dollars as reparations and to keep him from bringing a civil suit against the state.
Like last year's case in Texas (the same state where Green's case took place) where a man was sentenced to the death penalty and executed after new evidence had been discovered that could clear him of all charges- and which eventually did so, after his murder- Green's case was radically altered after the introduction of DNA evidence. While onus lies with the prosecutors for the (unintentional) introduction of false evidence during Green's original trial, there is no way they could have know that their eyewitness was lying or deluded. In 2009, over 3,000 men and women were on death row, and Texas alone had over 300 inmates waiting to be executed. Many of them were convicted before DNA evidence was customary to introduce by police or prosecutors.
Green, obviously, was not waiting on death row. But the way in which his case was reexamined cannot be unique to inmates who are simply imprisoned- which is not to say that that is any less horrible a fate. Green's experiences in prison were, frankly, traumatizing, as they are for many felons.
Prosecutors make mistakes. Judges are not infallible. Jurys have their own biases and baggage they bring to the case. The death or long-term imprisonment of an innocent man or woman is a horrific and life-altering mistake that can be fixed. If more DAs act like Patricia Lykos, who worked on Green's case and continues to look at all innocence claims filed, perhaps less time and lives will be lost within a broken system.
However, no true change can be made until the way in which people are executed in this country is reexamined. Unless it can be, without a doubt, guaranteed that not a single person on death row is innocent (which is practically impossible for prosecutors to do), the death penalty must be abolished. Killing innocent people just because they were once thought to be guilty is not something that can continue to be a practice in America. The US is one of the few developed nations who still executes their prisoners, and this is not something to be proud of.
There is no way to ensure that cases like Green's do not happen. Nor is there a way to ensure that only the guilty are killed. America ought not to be the only world leader who kills their inmates- much less the only who kills innocent ones.
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Like last year's case in Texas (the same state where Green's case took place) where a man was sentenced to the death penalty and executed after new evidence had been discovered that could clear him of all charges- and which eventually did so, after his murder- Green's case was radically altered after the introduction of DNA evidence. While onus lies with the prosecutors for the (unintentional) introduction of false evidence during Green's original trial, there is no way they could have know that their eyewitness was lying or deluded. In 2009, over 3,000 men and women were on death row, and Texas alone had over 300 inmates waiting to be executed. Many of them were convicted before DNA evidence was customary to introduce by police or prosecutors.
Green, obviously, was not waiting on death row. But the way in which his case was reexamined cannot be unique to inmates who are simply imprisoned- which is not to say that that is any less horrible a fate. Green's experiences in prison were, frankly, traumatizing, as they are for many felons.
Prosecutors make mistakes. Judges are not infallible. Jurys have their own biases and baggage they bring to the case. The death or long-term imprisonment of an innocent man or woman is a horrific and life-altering mistake that can be fixed. If more DAs act like Patricia Lykos, who worked on Green's case and continues to look at all innocence claims filed, perhaps less time and lives will be lost within a broken system.
However, no true change can be made until the way in which people are executed in this country is reexamined. Unless it can be, without a doubt, guaranteed that not a single person on death row is innocent (which is practically impossible for prosecutors to do), the death penalty must be abolished. Killing innocent people just because they were once thought to be guilty is not something that can continue to be a practice in America. The US is one of the few developed nations who still executes their prisoners, and this is not something to be proud of.
There is no way to ensure that cases like Green's do not happen. Nor is there a way to ensure that only the guilty are killed. America ought not to be the only world leader who kills their inmates- much less the only who kills innocent ones.
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