Guilty Until Proven Innocent

I don't even know what to say about this.  I'm against the death penalty for a number of moral and philosophical reasons that have little to do with my fear of executing an innocent man; frankly, I don't think that penning one up like an animal for forty years is all that big of an improvement.  And I doubt that many of the men on death row are innocent. 

Still.  When those who are innocent have evidence of their innocence uncovered, you can give them some shred of their life back.  There's not much you can offer a dead man except an apology to whatever portion of his spirit you think may have survived the execution. 

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2009/09/guilty-until-proven-innocent/24348/