Who is that guy behind the bars? That is Damien Echols. He spent 18 years on Death Row for a crime he did not commit. Justice is a complicated issue and one of its great weaknesses is its fallibility. Watch “Paradise Lost – The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills” and you will see that very fallibility in all its ugliness. The very real horror is that the travesty faced by Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley (Not to mention the three young victims of the crime they were convicted of, Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers), is played out very frequently. People die, the wrong people die. The West Memphis Three were victims of prejudice and ignorance, others fall victim to police corruption, some to planned framing.

In this age of DNA profiling you would think that more certainty would come into play, but you only have to look at the complete botching of DNA evidence in the OJ Simpson murder trial to see that fallibility can even be a factor with that too.

“Beyond reasonable doubt” is not certain enough to justify capital punishment. “Without possibility of doubt” might be. Is there such a thing? I don’t think anyone would claim any possibility of doubt that Gary Ridgeway or Peter Sutcliffe are totally guilty of the crimes they were convicted of. So yes, I do think there could be such a thing.

In the meantime, miscarriages of justice happen daily. There are many people in prison who should not be there. There are people on Death Row who should not be there. Look at Damien Echols. 18 years in prison, constantly under threat of being put to death.

Below you will find some hair raising examples of miscarriages of justice.