Your reaction to a loved one wrongly executed

[sccsux 10]

My question is this, how would you feel/react/cope if your son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister was executed for a crime they didn't commit.

 

If it was later proven that they didn't do the crime and they were, in fact, innocent, then I don't really know how I'd react. I know that I would not be impressed and the experience would probably make me less likely to help the authorities in any manner whatsoever in the further (I would also no longer recognise the authority of the state over me, how could I when it would advocate murder).

[sccsux 10]

And, I did comment on the hypothetical situation, just to keep you happy. Post No2 old boy

 

No you didn't. You tried to dismiss it (the hypothetical scenario) as fantasy.

[RootsBooster 24]

I read it, but the 'didn't commit' thing might just have been their version of events - you didn't imply that the relative would know this for certain. It's highly unlikely that they would.

 

And, I did comment on the hypothetical situation, just to keep you happy. Post No2 old boy

 

It's not a version of events, it's the situation given. They DID NOT commit the crime.

 

Also, I haven't said you didn't comment, old boy.

 

If it was later proven that they didn't do the crime and they were, in fact, innocent, then I don't really know how I'd react. I know that I would not be impressed and the experience would probably make me less likely to help the authorities in any manner whatsoever in the further (I would also no longer recognise the authority of the state over me, how could I when it would advocate murder).

What about the whole process before and leading up to the execution?

[RootsBooster 24]

No you didn't. You tried to dismiss it (the hypothetical scenario) as fantasy.

 

He did, but only very briefly/slightly. It's the only contribution he's given on the thread so far.

[RootsBooster 24]

But your logic is crap.

 

Yes it is, on this thread and it's situation given, he's saying it's not likely to happen, when it already has.

[sccsux 10]

What about the whole process before and leading up to the execution?

 

I wouldn't be happy, but until an execution has took place, there is still time for the truth to come out. Until then, I'd trust due process.

 

After the execution, then I'd be playing by a different set of rules.

[Tony Erikson 10]

Yes it is, on this thread and it's situation given, he's saying it's not likely to happen, when it already has.

 

Personally I don't know how I would react but I imagine there would be very little support. Too many people take the findings of a trials as 100% and could never be wrong.

 

I remember years ago watching a programme about a young black guy (Seemingly the most common type of death row inmate) who was gassed and there seemed to be doubt all the way through the process. The program showed what it could of his final moments and ended with a lawyer later reading out some sort of pardon. I was young but it did leave a mark.

[RootsBooster 24]

I wouldn't be happy, but until an execution has took place, there is still time for the truth to come out. Until then, I'd trust due process.

 

After the execution, then I'd be playing by a different set of rules.

 

It's too late then though

[sccsux 10]

It's too late then though

 

I was answering (specifically) "My question is this, how would you feel/react/cope if your son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister was executed for a crime they didn't commit." Which seems to imply after the case has been heard and sentence passed and actioned.

 

Though there is not a lot you can do until the "switch is flicked", so until the execution takes place, anything I would/could do would (in all probability) have no effect.

[Phanerothyme 12]

It's very hard to imagine what the experience would be like, especially trying to superimpose it on my existing life in the UK. I think up to the point of the the final rejection of the final appeal by the minister of justice, or lords or whatever, I'd be frantically stoking my faith in the system.

 

After the execution, that faith would collapse totally. I'd want to spend my life campaigning against the death penalty and finding out who was morally culpable for the death of my innocent.

 

This is why I think that in the event of an executed perp being posthumously proved innocent, the judge, or the judge's closest living relative should forfeit their life in the same way. It might make them a little more circumspect about handing down the death sentence in the first place.

[RootsBooster 24]

It's very hard to imagine what the experience would be like, especially trying to superimpose it on my existing life in the UK. I think up to the point of the the final rejection of the final appeal by the minister of justice, or lords or whatever, I'd be frantically stoking my faith in the system.

 

After the execution, that faith would collapse totally. I'd want to spend my life campaigning against the death penalty and finding out who was morally culpable for the death of my innocent.

 

This is why I think that in the event of an executed perp being posthumously proved innocent, the judge, or the judge's closest living relative should forfeit their life in the same way. It might make them a little more circumspect about handing down the death sentence in the first place.

 

I don't honestly know how I'd react but I believe my reactions could well go against my usual moral standards. The judge should indeed be held fully responsible, at the VERY LEAST serving a custodial sentence.

[sccsux 10]

This is why I think that in the event of an executed perp being posthumously proved innocent, the judge, or the judge's closest living relative should forfeit their life in the same way. It might make them a little more circumspect about handing down the death sentence in the first place.

 

Sounds good to me.