This op-ed pleasantly surprised me. The writer very bluntly addresses the time Alan Gell spent on death row in North Carolina. He challenges the readers about their thoughts on whether the innocent are ever convicted and/or executed. Personally, I don't understand how anyone can think that innocent people don't get locked up for crimes they didn't commit. Its been proven that innocent people have been exonerated from DEATH ROW. If you ask me, its probably even more common that innocent people are locked up for lesser crimes. After all, even I will admit that, generally, more time and money are focused on prosecution of a capital murder. Clearly, prosecutors have more incentive to get it right with a death sentence (not to say they always realize that). There are more appeals available in capital cases as well (I'm not saying they are enough or that they make up for the punishment). If you are convicted of a rape or a robbery or an accidental murder that you didn't commit, you don't have all of the same options; and, unless you're Kobe Bryant, the prosecution is probably not going to spend as much time making sure the details of the case are all perfectly in line the way they do with a capital crime. Now, combine that with the fact that the prosecution of capital crimes has been known to be flawed and has put innocent people in the death house, what does that say about those arrested for other crimes? Am I cynical? Yes. Too much so? Well, that remains to be seen.

Injustice deserves jail, too