Troll,

Great post--very thought provoking. I am one of those who believes in capital punishment in principle but doesn't think we have an educated enough public to think rationally enough to convict or not convict based on evidence. I was also the victim of a fixed court and it scares the hell out of me to think of that at the capital level.

I thought it was interesting though that they recently resurrected the play/movie 12 Angry Men. It doesn't resound anymore the way it was written. A re-write may have been in order as our society seems to be able to find "reasonable doubt" where there is none. We now look at the "why" of a crime and say we understand it. We used to look at the "why" of a crime and call it "motive" and "evidence".