I also am concerned with the number of individuals on death row who have been wrongfully accused. Since 1973, more than 130 people have been released from death row due to wrongful convictions. The most recent case occurred in 2012. A joint study led by University of Michigan Law Professor Sam R. Gross found that 4.1 percent of death row inmates during the modern era have been wrongfully executed. Famously, in 2004 Cameron Todd Willingham was executed after being accused of burning his home down and killing his three children. After his death investigators discovered there was no evidence to suggest the fire was started by arson. Mr. Willingham and several others have been wrongfully executed under our nation’s existing capital punishment laws.
Following the botched execution in Oklahoma the Justice Department announced it would begin a review of executions in America. Additionally, President Obama acknowledged that there is evidence of uneven application of the death penalty as well as individuals who have been wrongly convicted on death row. Attorney General Eric Holder, an established opponent of the death penalty, will be responsible for the upcoming review on capital punishment. I welcome this upcoming inquiry and hope to see changes in current policy. The death penalty in America runs contrary to our nation’s commitment to international human rights and racial equality and it should be repealed.
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