y are referring to the Clinton-Gore administration, whose support on the issue of capital punishment, can be seen in a statement made by the National Commission on Capital Punishment, written in the Democratic Party Platform. They say, Those who are for capital punishment, see those against it as treating the criminals like victims (National).Supporters of capital punishment argue that society must retaliate against criminals. They conclude that the best possible retribution against a murderer is capital punishment. The execution of convicted offenders expresses the value society places on the innocent lives that are taken. These supporters claim that there is no evidence that any innocent people have ever been executed or exonerated since 1900. All the studies conducted by the social scientists, have been shown to contain flawed results. Opponents point out that those released form death row were proven innocent, and that twenty-three innocent people have been executed. This, supporters say, is a complete falsehood and the studies being used by opponents are merely scare tactics. In the studies and statistics published, they fail to show, of the 69 people released from prison to date, that any of them were innocent, or that any innocent people were executed. Bidau and Radelet commented on a study they conducted saying, We agree with our critics that we have not proved executed defendants to be innocent; we never claimed that we had (Justice 169). Being released and found innocent contain two separate meanings, and none of the innocent people released were ever determined to be innocent. By executing murderers supporters feel, that alone is deterring crime It prevents murderers from being released to killing again. Don Feder, a journalist for the Boston Herald says, When murders arent executed, innocent people suffer. Odds are a killer will be released at some point...(Feder). There have been cases in the 1970s, where ...
