Since the Supreme Court allowed reinstatement, most states have adopted capital punishment. The numbers executed in some states seem appalling. Our own Governor has fretted because our district attorneys have not, in his opinion, used the death penalty enough. We do, however, in New York, have an excellent, well-funded defense structure, so miscarriages of justice are less likely than in some other states. Even if you accept the premise that there should be capital punishment, the present procedures do not, as the Sanhedrin and the Rabbis required, ensure near certainty of guilt.
Certainty is never possible.
Studies at Columbia Law School show in many capital cases a shoddy defense and a careless and opportunistic prosecution. Some mistakes are caught in appeals and habeas corpus proceedings, but new laws have so restricted these corrective avenues that they are not working well. In any event, well paid defense counsel quickly appointed with adequate funds for investigation is the best procedural protection. It is significant that the courageous Georgia governor, who stayed the planned legal execution of Mr. Frank before he was kidnapped and lynched, was driven out of public life. Only recently has Georgia belatedly recognized its error after an old man, then a boy, publicly admitted he saw the events and they did not involve Mr. Frank.