These are the thoughts I woke up with this morning following the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia last night. I'd love to post a transcript here but don't have the time to transcribe it. Here's my basic argument
- "beyond a reasonable doubt" is not good enough in applying the death row. we should demand "beyond ANY doubt"
- we have proof that innocent people have been killed on death row and it's a discriminatory institution
- we know that there was massive doubt in troy davis's case
- we have the power to prevent the death of an innocent and when done in our names (by the state) we have the obligation to prevent these murders. unlike other innocent deaths (accidents, single murders by single actors, disease) we really can prevent the collective ones
- there is no justice in accounting for the life of an innocent (police officer machphail) with the life of another innocent
- we have not come as far as we'd like to believe as a civilization when we act out the roman coliseum thousands of years later. when will our moral progress keep pace with our iphone progress?
and other associated thoughts