One of the main problems with the death penalty is that the places that are quickest and eagerest to administer it have been the places least likely to ensure a fair trial, including such places in the U.S, particularly where the accused are poor, racial minorities, or have been subjected to a great deal of pre-trial adverse publicity.
Most people executed in our country received kangaroo trials primarily because they were black and/or poor. Often their lawyers were drafted and literally mounted half hearted defenses under protest. Many trials culminating in the death penalty lasted less than two days. Needless to say, our country has executed a multitude of innocients.
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Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be.
—Paul Auster
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