dence. In cases where new DNA forensic was tested, 26% of primary suspects in similar cases Whitehead 7 were exonerated. This has led some to conclude that a similar percentage of inmates many have been wrongly convicted prior to the advent of forensic DNA typing. DNA testing, though a conduit for exoneration in these cases has also been challenged and the courts in at least one case have been refused to admit analyzed laboratory results because the lab failed to reveal its testing methods. Such an omission can prevent replication of the results and may result in an innocent person being wrongly convicted. The deliberate misconduct of the prosecutor's scientific experts has been an issue in a number of cases in which formerly convicted individuals were later exonerated. The NIJ reported that the West Virginian Supreme Court indicted Fred Zain, a forensic scientist for perjury. This following his failure to disclose information relating to the high unliklihood that fluid samples could have come from the defendant. The subsequent investigation resulted in the courts declaring Zain's testimony, in more than 130 cases inadmissible. Technical issues aside, the violence and barbarity of executions is considered by some as a justification to end capital punishment. Some American states continue to utilize such methods as death by electrocution, hanging, gas chambers and firing squads. Many question the humanity of these procedures. Let's take a look at exactly what most execution methods entail. Hanging, a method of execution that dates back to the American colonial times, is described in the official hanging protocol as developed for the state of Delaware (Execution by Hanging, 1990).The official procedure for handing involves the inmate being dropped a distance Whitehead 8 and being stopped by a rope fasten around the neck, the force of this drop-and-stop method breaks the bones of the neck, thus severing the spinal cord. This causes the inm...
