Innocent Deaths of Death Row..

[Vito]

While I think it is absolutely horrible that his happens, something dawned on me while it was running through my head.

I do believe that everything that happens in this life happens for a reason - do you think that the innocent people who've been killed on death row had an evil parent that was being punished? Of course they could all be horrible mistakes, but it popped in my head so I just thought I would bring it up to see what everyone thought..

[IsraelForever]

I don't know, except to say that I would think it very unfair to be put on death row for something my mother or father did. 

[Rubystars]

They all say they're innocent, or most of them do.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Has an innocent person actually been executed (I mean besides pogrom victims like Leo Frank)?

[White Israelite]

Has an innocent person actually been executed (I mean besides pogrom victims like Leo Frank)?

I'm not opposed to the death penalty but here.

http://www.justicedenied.org/executed.htm

[JewishAmericanPatriot]

Has an innocent person actually been executed (I mean besides pogrom victims like Leo Frank)?

For years I was good friends with an elderly lady whose husband was executed for something he did not do--the evidence came out about his innocence, but it didn't come out until 40 years after his execution.

In general I'm for the death penalty, but cases like his always make me stop and pause. If I could be SURE that everyone being executed really did do the crime, I'd be 100% for the DP.

[IsraelForever]

I'm not for the electric chair.  I'm for electric bleachers.

[Daleksfearme]

Has an innocent person actually been executed (I mean besides pogrom victims like Leo Frank)?

Yes, Inocent people have been executed by mistake. There are people working to ensure that this does not happen

http://www.innocenceproject.org/

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

While I think it is absolutely horrible that his happens, something dawned on me while it was running through my head.

I do believe that everything that happens in this life happens for a reason - do you think that the innocent people who've been killed on death row had an evil parent that was being punished? Of course they could all be horrible mistakes, but it popped in my head so I just thought I would bring it up to see what everyone thought..

 That is not the proper way to look at people. Not only in this case but in everything in life. With this attitude one will blame the victim for the offense commited agains't him/her. 

[muman613]

Tzvi,

This particular verse in Exodus 20:1-6 makes me wonder sometimes:

"
1 And G-d spoke all these words, saying: {S}  2 I am the LORD thy G-d, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.  3 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;  4 thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy G-d am a jealous G-d, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me;  5 and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments. {S}  6 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy G-d in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. {P}
"

This is difficult to understand how Hashem 'visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children'. I forget the explanations but this verse often makes me wonder.

I also need to learn why Jobs daughters and sons were killed in order to test Job.

[Vito]

While I think it is absolutely horrible that his happens, something dawned on me while it was running through my head.

I do believe that everything that happens in this life happens for a reason - do you think that the innocent people who've been killed on death row had an evil parent that was being punished? Of course they could all be horrible mistakes, but it popped in my head so I just thought I would bring it up to see what everyone thought..

 That is not the proper way to look at people. Not only in this case but in everything in life. With this attitude one will blame the victim for the offense commited agains't him/her. 

Oh don't get me wrong, that's not the way I look at the innocent killings at all, it was just a thought that I had as to whether that might be the case sometimes.

[muman613]

Regarding capital punishment from a Jewish perspective it is something which should only be carried out 'once in seventy years' according to our Talmud. The requirements of two to three witnesses and the requirement of warning the person against commiting the crime are needed in order to enable a death sentence. It is because of the fear of executing an innocent person. The death penalty as mandated in our Torah is divine justice, meant to eliminate evil from our midst. It is not meant for retribution against the individual. I support our death penalty here in America because it does provide justice for the families of those who have been victimized by murderers.

[Secularbeliever]

The Innocence Project is run by Barry Sheck who absolutely soils his reputation every time he tries a high profile case.  He more than anyone else helped OJ Simpson get away with murdering two human beings and helped the au pair from Britain get away with killing a child.  He twists facts so badly in these cases that I tend to discount what he says in Project Innocense. 

[muman613]

I learned a Kabbalistic understanding of 'visiting the iniquity of the sin...' from this site:

http://www.kabbalaonline.org/Safedteachings/gor/Righteous_and__Wicked_(46).asp

We will now explain the difference between a righteous person and an evil person. This will allow us to better understand the differences among the verses and the things discussed by our sages.

Sometimes we see that a person only reincarnates three times, according to the esoteric meaning of the verse, "Behold, G-d does all these things, two or three times with a man" (Job 33:29). There is also the esoteric meanings of the verses, "For three sins of Israel, but for the fourth I will not return ..." (Amos 2:6), and "...Who visits the sins of the fathers on the children unto the third (generation) and unto the fourth (generation)" (Ex. 20:5). Yet, it says in Sefer HaTikunim (69) that a righteous person reincarnates up to one thousand generations, and there are other sources similar to this.

Thus, the question is whether a soul reincarnates up to three times and no more, or whether it can reincarnate as many as a thousand times and maybe even more?
" The "four generations" refers to evil people"   

The verse itself answers the question. The "four generations" refers to evil people, as it says, "...Who visits the sins of the fathers... to those who hate Me." In contrast, to whom is He "...doing kindness for a thousand generations" (ibid. 6)? The same verse answers, "...to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Those who hate G-d are the evil people, to whom the four-generation limit on reincarnations applies. Those who love G-d are the righteous people, to whom "a thousand generations" of reincarnations applies.

The explanation is as follows: When the  Nefesh of a person comes into the world for the first time and sins, becoming blemished and forcing it to reincarnate into another body to become rectified, this is its first  reincarnation. If it doesn't become rectified, then it returns in a second reincarnation. If it is not rectified then, it returns in a third reincarnation, but from then onward he will not be able to attain rectification by reincarnating again. It is then said about it that "the Nefesh will be cut off from his people," completely (Gen.17:14).

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

Tzvi,

This particular verse in Exodus 20:1-6 makes me wonder sometimes:

"
1 And G-d spoke all these words, saying: {S}  2 I am the LORD thy G-d, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.  3 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;  4 thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy G-d am a jealous G-d, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me;  5 and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments. {S}  6 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy G-d in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. {P}
"

This is difficult to understand how Hashem 'visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children'. I forget the explanations but this verse often makes me wonder.

I also need to learn why Jobs daughters and sons were killed in order to test Job.

 Rabbis say that if the children follow in the ways of the fathers then they will be punished, if they dont then they will not.

[Xoce]

Question:

Would you prefer to have a guilty murderer free?

Or

Would you prefer to have an innocent person mistakenly convicted and executed?

(The guilty murderer would presumably be free to rape/murder for the rest of his life)

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

Question:

Would you prefer to have a guilty murderer free?

Or

Would you prefer to have an innocent person mistakenly convicted and executed?

(The guilty murderer would presumably be free to rape/murder for the rest of his life)

 Why not just jail?
  (Im not agains't the death penalty in cases where it is certain though).

[Xoce]

Question:

Would you prefer to have a guilty murderer free?

Or

Would you prefer to have an innocent person mistakenly convicted and executed?

(The guilty murderer would presumably be free to rape/murder for the rest of his life)

 Why not just jail?
  (Im not agains't the death penalty in cases where it is certain though).

It is just a hypothetical scenario.

[Daleksfearme]

There have been some cases where a criminal left someone elses DNA at the crime scene to implicate another person.