James Doolittle Quotes
If I had had the slightest doubt, I certainly would not have imposed the death penalty.
James Doolittle, Trial Judge, Statement made August 2001 after DNA evidence conclusively proved that Charles Fain who Doolittle had sentenced to death 18 years before was not the perpetrator and had been convicted in error. Appeals had kept him alive.
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Louis Eugene Walcott. Malcolm X had criticized Elijah Mohammed for sexual behavior with staff.
Einstein had changed his mind. He like almost everyone else at the time favored the death penalty, but in 1927 came to the new conclusion for the same reasons that many American politicians stated 70 years later. He had no compunctions against capital punishment for murderers who were dangers to society, but the potential error of the justice system led him to oppose state sanctioned execution. At the time the number of errors in capital cases that had been demonstrated were few. But as a scientist, Einstein knew that all human endeavors were prone to error. He was a strong law and order supporter however—see {588606}.