Event Title
Troy Davis: Does Focusing on Innocence Change Minds or Distract from the Harder Moral Debate?
Location
Room A, Hirch Hall
Start Date
3-3-2012 3:15 PM
End Date
3-3-2012 4:45 PM
Description
The conversation will center on the lasting impact of the Troy Davis case, which focused national attention on problems with the use of capital punishment, including criticisms such as inadequate representation for the convicted, arbitrariness in sentencing, and public uneasiness with the risk of sentencing innocent individuals to death. At the same time, a majority of Americans (62%) support capital punishment.
Does a focus on innocence risks contribute to the discussion regarding the morality of the death penalty or does it distract? Six months later, has the Troy Davis case changed the way that Georgians and Americans feel about the death penalty, or was public outcry a unique response to the exceptional facts of the case and widespread belief in Davis’s innocence?
Troy Davis: Does Focusing on Innocence Change Minds or Distract from the Harder Moral Debate?
Room A, Hirch Hall
The conversation will center on the lasting impact of the Troy Davis case, which focused national attention on problems with the use of capital punishment, including criticisms such as inadequate representation for the convicted, arbitrariness in sentencing, and public uneasiness with the risk of sentencing innocent individuals to death. At the same time, a majority of Americans (62%) support capital punishment.
Does a focus on innocence risks contribute to the discussion regarding the morality of the death penalty or does it distract? Six months later, has the Troy Davis case changed the way that Georgians and Americans feel about the death penalty, or was public outcry a unique response to the exceptional facts of the case and widespread belief in Davis’s innocence?