Why Civilized Countries Reject Capital Punishment
The Quebec government is about to compensate the family of a mentally challenged man who has been cleared of sexual assault after spending five years in prison. Simon Marshall was sentenced to serve 62 months after he confessed to committing six sexual assaults in the 1990s.
When a police investigation later revealed Marshall's DNA did not match that found on any of the assault survivors, he was aquitted.
Had this sad situation happened in Texas, Florida, or any other death penalty state in the U.S., Simon Marshall may well have died by lethal injection for crimes he did not commit. The fact that he confessed means nothing, there are hundreds of documented cases in both Canada and the U.S., of people making false confessions. Some do it out of some mental-illness-driven or attention seeking motivation, but others do it just to end soul-destroying interrogations. In a state that considers sexual assault a capital crime, a challenged man, innocent of any crime, might have died because of a tragic error. Were Mr. Marshall black or hispanic, his chances of losing his life over a false confession would be greatly multiplied.
There is no way to eliminate human error, racism, classism, sexism or stupidity from the judicial system, and since it is far from failsafe, there is no place for capital punishment. Enlightened countries understand this simple concept. Others do not.
Manon Beaudoin, Simon Marshall's mother and legal guardian, has said the money offered as compensation will be used to ensure her son is cared for over the course of his life. The government of Quebes cannot give Mr. Marshall the past five years of his life back, it cannot erase the doubtless horrors he has witnessed as a vulnerable man in an environment designed to destroy the weak.
If Mr. Marshall had been convicted in a bloodthirsty death penalty state, his mother might be choosing a headstone for her son's grave.
When a police investigation later revealed Marshall's DNA did not match that found on any of the assault survivors, he was aquitted.
Had this sad situation happened in Texas, Florida, or any other death penalty state in the U.S., Simon Marshall may well have died by lethal injection for crimes he did not commit. The fact that he confessed means nothing, there are hundreds of documented cases in both Canada and the U.S., of people making false confessions. Some do it out of some mental-illness-driven or attention seeking motivation, but others do it just to end soul-destroying interrogations. In a state that considers sexual assault a capital crime, a challenged man, innocent of any crime, might have died because of a tragic error. Were Mr. Marshall black or hispanic, his chances of losing his life over a false confession would be greatly multiplied.
There is no way to eliminate human error, racism, classism, sexism or stupidity from the judicial system, and since it is far from failsafe, there is no place for capital punishment. Enlightened countries understand this simple concept. Others do not.
Manon Beaudoin, Simon Marshall's mother and legal guardian, has said the money offered as compensation will be used to ensure her son is cared for over the course of his life. The government of Quebes cannot give Mr. Marshall the past five years of his life back, it cannot erase the doubtless horrors he has witnessed as a vulnerable man in an environment designed to destroy the weak.
If Mr. Marshall had been convicted in a bloodthirsty death penalty state, his mother might be choosing a headstone for her son's grave.
posted by Alphamutt at 10:23 PM
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