soc_puppet | World Day Against the Death Penalty

F'list and circle, I love the heck out of you and your geekery; the whole 101010 = 42 in binary thing cracks me up in the best way. I'd love, love, love it if that were the only things significant about today.

But it's also, as I just learned, World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Via an amazing post at Shakesville:

Imagine being accused of a crime you didn't commit.

Now imagine being condemned to die for a crime you didn't commit.

Here is a stark fact: 139 people have been exonerated from death row since 1973. That is approximately one for every eight executions. How many more were the victims of state-sanctioned murder for crimes they did not commit? We don't know.

Is one innocent person murdered by us, the taxpayers who fund the death penalty, worth it?

The post itself is dedicated to talking about a number of people who were found innocent of crimes that put them on death row, and who now work for Witness to Innocence. It's an absolute tearjerker of a post: part heartwarming because these are the people who managed to get out, despite overwhelming odds, and part heartbreaking, because there are many more still waiting to die - innocent and guilty alike.

While I don't believe I've spoken about it before, I'm firmly against the death penalty. I find it cruel and inhumane, it actually costs more than a life sentence, and it's not even an effective deterrent for crime. The fact that there are innocent people sentenced to die by the government that's supposed to protect them is the shit icing on the crap cake.

If you have the time (and probably a tissue or three), please consider reading the post and the stories of the people it talks about. And if you can find it in you, please consider spreading the word about these amazing people and the horror they are working to eliminate.