BCT Editorial – 6/5/07

This page was last updated on June 9, 2007.

You, too; Editorial; Beaver County Times; June 5, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Eighteen years ago, David Vasquez was pardoned after serving five years of a 35-year sentence for the 1984 rape and murder of a Arlington, Va., woman.

“His pardon was significant because it marked the first time DNA evidence was used to exonerate a person of a crime.

“The New York Times reports that last month, the 200th wrongly convicted person was freed from jail because of DNA testing. That represents an average of more than 11 cases a year, or almost one a month, since the Vasquez case.”

[RWC] Note the lack of context. The editorial doesn’t tell us how many people are convicted per month, yet wants us to believe less than one person freed per month in a country with a population of about 300 million is a lot.

“If that doesn’t shake your confidence in the criminal justice system, consider this: The paper reported an analysis of the DNA cases found that three-fourths were marked by inaccurate eyewitness identification and that in two-thirds there were mistakes or other problems with forensic science.”

[RWC] Why should this shake anyone’s confidence unless you naïvely thought a human process like this could be anywhere near perfect. The only way we can guarantee an innocent person will never be convicted is not to prosecute anyone.

“Clearly, new standards are needed in the use of DNA testing, forensic science and eyewitness accounts. A re-evaluation past convictions also is in order.

“This isn’t about being soft on crime. It’s about getting it right.

“If you think this doesn’t concern you, remember that if they could convict Vasquez and 199 others (and with more exonerations on the way), they can convict you, too.”

[RWC] Isn’t this the newspaper that’s always condemning scare tactics?