Dallas newspaper cites DNA exonerations in opposing capital punishment

04.16.07

Citing DNA exonerations and the risk of executing an innocent person, the Dallas Morning News published an editorial yesterday announcing that the paper’s editorial board now opposes the death penalty, after supporting it for a century. The newspaper’s editors said tighter restrictions on the administration of the death penalty would not be enough.

From our vantage point in Dallas County, the possibility of tragic, fatal error in the death chamber appears undeniable. We have seen a parade of 13 men walk out of the prison system after years – even decades – of imprisonment for crimes they didn't commit. Though not death penalty cases, these examples – including an exoneration just last week – reveal how shaky investigative techniques and reliance on eyewitnesses can derail the lives of the innocent.


Read the full editorial here

. (Dallas Morning News, 4/16/07)

Texas has accounted for 37 percent of the nation’s executions since 1977 and 40 percent in the last decade. While several other states have halted executions this year amid concerns about the suffering caused by lethal injections, Texas is going in the “wrong direction” according to the Dallas Morning News. The state has executed 12 people so far in 2007, while one person has been executed in the rest of the country.


More coverage from the Dallas Morning News

: A chat with editorial page editors at 2 pm CDT, death penalty charts and today’s editorials on life without parole.


Read more about the 13 men proven innocent by DNA testing in Dallas county

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