Comment by sandworm101
2 years ago
>> how many people are in jail or lost their kids due to something that didn't actually happen.
Thousands upon thousands. By some estimates upwards of 10% of incarcerated individuals. The situation is just accepted. The general consensus is always that locking up too many people is better than than too few. It is on defense attorneys to check on the system.
Are you saying that 10% of incarcerated individuals are innocent (which I do not find an unrealistic number), or are you saying that 10% of incarcerated individuals are wrongly in prison for crimes against their children?
10% of people are innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted. Whole innocence is another thing. But yes, there are a huge number of people wrongfully convicted. Things like DNA evidence is showing us that a great many mistakes are made. For those crimes convicted without things like DNA evidence, one must presume an equal rate of wrongful convictions. Courts are not FAA crash investigations, or any other sort of investigation. They are not about truth. They are about rights and laws. There is no right to a truthful outcome, only a lawful one.
Yes. I suggest everyone to look into the fantastic work done by the Innocence Project [1] and the Innocence Network [2].
Also, the Innocence Files is a must-watch on Netflix [3].
[1] https://innocenceproject.org/
[2] https://innocencenetwork.org/
[3] https://www.netflix.com/title/80214563
I agree, but I think OP referred to crimes involving violence against their own children.
Imagine when it’s not just locking up, but spills over to state homicide: https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/24/texas-death-ro...
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37667150.
Not everywhere is the US.
This isn’t even true for the US. In the US we believe it’s better to let a criminal run free than deprive an innocent of their liberty.
That seems to be the sentiment based on our founding origins or if you talk to an individual, but the fact is that we imprison more people per capita than anyone else. It's hard for me to believe that all of the criminals just live in the USA.
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"It is better to let 100 criminals go free than to imprison 1 innocent man." — Benjamin Franklin
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> In the US we believe...
Sadly, that varies enormously with the social status and wealth of the accused.