more on Don't mess with Texas

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Jess H. Brewer" <jess () triumf ca>
Date: November 13, 2004 7:12:23 PM EST
To: "This is not a gentle place." <cuckoosnest () riddlemaster org>
Cc: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [Cuckoosnest] Don't mess with Texas

Randall wrote:
> http://caller.com/ccct/state_texas_news/article/ 
> 0,1641,CCCT_876_3326567,00.html 75% of Texans favor executions
> But 70% believe innocent people have gotten death

It is the duty of MWBAG, juries, lawyers, judges, and legislators
to make as few mistakes as they can.  But it is ridiculous to
believe the error rate could ever be zero.  As for public policy
on which one might vote, I contend there is just one number that
can be decided on principle rather than achieved by competence:
the number of guilty people who go free for every innocent person
wrongly convicted of a crime.  I once discussed this principle
with the Director of the "Law & Society" program of the Canadian
Institute for Advanced Research; he agreed with my analysis and
asked me what I would consider a reasonable ratio.  I said "10"
and he looked at me in horror, saying he had never met anyone
before who would go below "100".  It would be interesting to
take a poll.  I suspect at least half the populace would insist
on infinity, meaning, "I refuse to think about it."

The above analysis is separate from the issue of whether the
death penalty is wise or just.  My opinion on that issue is
that life imprisonment leaves more time for correcting
errors and thus improves the ratio, but it is very, very
expensive and thus withdraws resources from the task of
error reduction.  In short, I don't know.  But there is
no logical contradition in the above news item.

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