Statement of Chairperson of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee made while supporting the death penalty in 1997. The likelihood that innocent people will be condemned to death and executed is inherent in all jurisdictions which resort to capital punishment.
Few mistakes made by government officials can equal the horror of executing an innocent person.
Furthermore, many of these basic safeguards have been seriously undermined in recent years, increasing the risk of lethal and irreversible error. Amnesty International unconditionally opposes the death penalty under all circumstances. The undeniable fact that the death penalty is sometimes inflicted upon those innocent of the crime for which they were condemned only reinforces the other conclusive arguments against its use. The execution of innocent defendants is an ever-present risk wherever the death penalty is inflicted. The court determined that witnesses at the original trial were unreliable and that prosecutors had withheld evidence that a man similar in appearance to Mattan was more likely the actual murderer.