is that al megrahi still alive? nearly a year after his release - another lefty

IveSeenTheLight

StevieJ wrote: »

I suppose emphasis is on should :eek:

Recent developments in DNA profiling technology have helped quash many convictions.
One of the most famous involved Sean Hodgson from County Durham, who spent 27 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
Mr Hodgson suffered one of the worst miscarriages of justice in English legal history after DNA tests, not available at the time of his 1982 murder trial, revealed he could not have killed Southampton barmaid Teresa de Simone in 1979.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/evening-chronicle-news/2010/04/12/dna-could-free-murder-convict-after-12-years-72703-26224759/

Doesn't this mean that the advances in technology mean there is less risk of an incorrect conviction.

Aren't we now more likely to categorically proove that we are convicting the correct person?

Choosing a crime from 1982 and comparing to today's court cases is like comparing house price corrections today with those in the 80's as well

It was 30 years ago, technology and fundamentals are different nowadays

StevieJ

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Doesn't this mean that the advances in technology mean there is less risk of an incorrect conviction.

Aren't we now more likely to categorically proove that we are convicting the correct person?

Choosing a crime from 1982 and comparing to today's court cases is like comparing house price corrections today with those in the 80's as well

It was 30 years ago, technology and fundamentals are different nowadays

Somehow I think you are completely missing the point Anyhow new technology, new problems - What about DNA planting, i.e. introducing an innocent persons DNA to a crime scene?

IveSeenTheLight

StevieJ wrote: »

Somehow I think you are completely missing the point Anyhow new technology, new problems - What about DNA planting, i.e. introducing an innocent persons DNA to a crime scene?

What your talking about is corruption.
I'd like to think in our society there are things in place to stop this happening.
If you don't believe this is the case, then open all the prison doors and let the convicted criminals free.

My point is simply making punishments harder will become a deterrent in itself.

Kids nowadays see ASBO's as a medal of honour.
are they really a punishment

Exocet

Dear ISTL,

I have tried and found you guilty in a closed hearing. The charges were of bringing a thread into disrepute, for which the punishment is a twenty year stretch. You can appeal this sentence, but it will be heard by me, and I will add on another twenty years. If however you develop symptoms of a terminal illness and / or sign over to me your property in Scotland I will be prepared to consider a release on compassionate grounds.

Yours,

Judge (and jury) Exocet

StevieJ

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

What your talking about is corruption.

Not necessarily, it could be done by the perpetrator, DNA is perfect looking back because criminals didn't realise it would be an issue, now they do.

IveSeenTheLight

Exocet wrote: »

Dear ISTL,

I have tried and found you guilty in a closed hearing. The charges were of bringing a thread into disrepute, for which the punishment is a twenty year stretch. You can appeal this sentence, but it will be heard by me, and I will add on another twenty years. If however you develop symptoms of a terminal illness and / or sign over to me your property in Scotland I will be prepared to consider a release on compassionate grounds.

Yours,

Judge (and jury) Exocet

Some people will do anything to get their hands on property.
Build / buy your own lol

Degenerate

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Let's be clear, it's just speculation as to the whether there was sufficient evidence or not.

The evidence is a matter of public record. A storekeeper from Malta testified that the guy he sold a shirt to looked like Al Megrahi. This single witness identification, 12 years after the event, was the only thing that linked him to the rest of the chain of evidence. Am really "just speculating" when I say that this is insufficient? I would say it's common sense that a recollection of a stranger's face 12 years later is open to reasonable doubt.

The fact remains and is still true today, that he was found guilty and convicted of a terrorist act.

I've never understood the mindset that treats any court verdict, however shaky, as sacrosanct and unquestionable. It seems to be particularly prevalent among supporters of the death penalty.

nearlynew

This is a good piece on capital punishment recently published on von mises.......


The libertarian position on capital punishment

StevieJ

nearlynew wrote: »

This is a good piece on capital punishment recently published on von mises.......


The libertarian position on capital punishment

About as sensible as their economic arguments.

IveSeenTheLight

Degenerate wrote: »

The evidence is a matter of public record. A storekeeper from Malta testified that the guy he sold a shirt to looked like Al Megrahi. This single witness identification, 12 years after the event, was the only thing that linked him to the rest of the chain of evidence. Am really "just speculating" when I say that this is insufficient? I would say it's common sense that a recollection of a stranger's face 12 years later is open to reasonable doubt.


I've never understood the mindset that treats any court verdict, however shaky, as sacrosanct and unquestionable. It seems to be particularly prevalent among supporters of the death penalty.

Interesting use of words.
Certainly saying someone looked like a person is not the same as saying that it was that person.

Indeed there are a host of people who make it their livelyhood to look like another
http://www.splitting-images.com/celebrity_list.html