in a soybean field. Two mentally disabled half-brothers, Henry McCollum and Leon Brown,

一個大豆田的被發現。一對有精神障礙的同母異父兄弟：Henry McCollum與Leon Brown

quickly became targets of the investigation. After hours of interrogation, McCollum and

旋即成為調查的目標。經問數小時的訊問之後，McCollum 和

Brown each confessed. They were convicted and sentenced to die.

Brown 都坦承了犯行。他們都被定罪並宣判死刑。

Sounds like well-served justice. Public officials in North Carolina and across the country praised

聽起來正義被伸張了。北卡羅萊納州以及全國的政府官員都讚揚

their death penalty conviction. But here's the problem: McCullom and Brown were innocent.

死刑這個定罪，但是有個問題：McCollum 和 Brown 其實是無辜的。

After 30 years on death row, DNA evidence revealed another man, who'd lived near the

成為死囚30年後，DNA的證據卻揭示：另外一位住在案發現場附近

scene and had a long record of sexual assaults, was the murderer. He was never investigated

並有長期性侵案件的紀錄的男性才是真正的凶手，但他卻從來沒有遭受警方的調查

during the case. We nearly executed two men for a crime did not commit.

在這個案件中，我們差點因為他們未犯下的罪刑而處決兩人。

That shows just how dangerous the death penalty really is. Even if you think

這顯示了死刑是極其危險的。即使你覺得

that some people deserve to die, governments make mistakes. That means having to accept

有些人罪該萬死，政府還是會出錯。這表示必須要接受一件

the unacceptable: innocent people will die. That can't be undone and we cannot compensate

無法接受的事情：無辜的人會被誤殺。這是沒法重來，我們也沒法像

for it the way we can with mistaken imprisonment. What if the death penalty doesn't make us

冤獄那樣做出補償。那如果死刑也沒有讓我們

any safer? It hasn't deterred crime more than life sentence without parole,

更加安全呢？它並沒有比不得假釋的無期徒刑嚇阻更多犯罪，我們也沒有

nor have we seen a spike in murder rates following its abolishment in different states.

在不同的州廢除死刑之後，我們也沒有看到凶殺案比例的增加

Innocent people can and have been wrongfully sentence to die for many reasons. Take Curtis McCarty.

無辜的人可以因為很多理由被誤判死刑。以 Curtis McCarty 為例，

He was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer's daughter. After

他因謀殺一位警官的女兒而被判死刑，在

22 years in prison he was exonerated. He returned home to his terminally ill mother and now

監獄中待了22年後，他被證明無罪。他回到家中，待在身患絕症的母親

adult son, and a granddaughter he'd never held. 22 years of Curtis McCarty's life were

已經成人的兒子、以及他從來沒有抱過的孫女身旁。McCarty 生命中的 22 年的光陰

stolen from him because a forensic chemist with the Oklahoma City Police Department either

就被奪走了，因為一位奧克拉荷馬市警局的法庭化學家

intentionally altered or lost evidence related to the case. That same chemist participated

刻意改變或是遺失了與案件相關的證據。而這位化學家曾參與了

in over 3,000 other cases; 23 resulted in death sentences. Does that make you feel safe?

超過 3000 個其他的案件，其中有 23 件以死刑作結。這讓你感到安全嗎？

How many more innocent people should we let die before we abolish the death penalty once and for all?

在我們永久的廢除死刑之前，我們要再讓多少無辜的人死去呢？