11th September, 2009 - Do You Wanna Be in my Gang? Eh... not really

Did you catch that mockumentary about the execution of Gary Glitter? Fairly compelling I thought in spite of my initial protestations about it being a ridiculous concept.

I am against the death penalty. I think you’ll probably find that most lawyers are. I’ve done a few criminal trials earlier in my career. It was all very low level stuff, but the thing that struck me was the level of doubt in my own mind about people’s guilt. At ay trial there seems to be some level of confusion about what the truth is. People remember different things. They have different emphases. And good though the jury system is, it seems to me that it would be a very odd human institution if there were no mistakes made ever.

The reality is that people are wrongly convicted from time to time. That is just the truth. It shouldn’t happen, but it does. And it appears to me that, if you admit that fundamental fact, itis wrong to impose a sentence that cannot be undone.

But you may say – what about the really certain cases – the cast iron “caught on CCTV and witnessed by a crowd of a hundred people cases?” Well, I say, it is still wrong. Because it is impossible to properly see into someone’s mind. I suspect that many homicides are carried out by perfectly rational, sane, and pre-meditated individuals. But, I suspect that just a few that look that way at first glance were not. And if there is a sliver of a chance that you kill someone who was mentally ill rather than just plain bad, then we should not take the risk.