James Acker: “Troy Davis, scheduled to be executed next week in Georgia for the murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail, could be a capital error that is about to happen. Davis was convicted and sentenced to death more than 20 years ago by a jury that heard testimony from at least nine witnesses who implicated him in the killing. Since then, seven of the trial witnesses have recanted or revised their testimony so that it no longer points to Davis’ guilt. Of the two witnesses who have not revised their condemning trial testimony, one is believed by Davis’ supporters to have been the actual murderer…

The reality of the death penalty is that even if it is politically popular (to wit, the Perry applause) it is an ineffective criminal justice policy, rarely employed, unevenly distributed and fraught with the potential for error. Its mistakes, unlike those committed in cases resulting in imprisonment, cannot be corrected. Capital punishment is infinitely more soothing and reassuring as an abstract symbol of justice than it is in practice.”