Editing Capital punishment (section)

===Wrongful execution===
{{Main|Wrongful execution}}
{{See also|List of wrongful convictions in the United States}}
[[File:Timothy Evans Grave.JPG|thumb|Capital punishment was abolished in the United Kingdom in part because of the case of [[Timothy Evans]], who was executed in 1950 after being wrongfully convicted of two murders that had in fact been committed by his landlord, [[John Christie (murderer)|John Christie]]. The case was considered vital in bolstering opposition, which limited the scope of the penalty in 1957 and abolished it completely for murder in 1965.]]
It is frequently argued that capital punishment leads to [[miscarriage of justice]] through the wrongful execution of innocent persons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=412|title=Innocence and the Death Penalty|publisher=Deathpenaltyinfo.org|access-date=23 August 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080701205425/http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=412|archive-date=1 July 2008}}</ref> Many people have been proclaimed innocent victims of the death penalty.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://capitaldefenseweekly.com/innocent.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804222621/http://capitaldefenseweekly.com/innocent.html|url-status=unfit|title=Thirty Years of Executions with Reasonable Doubts: A Brief Analysis of Some Modern Executions|archivedate=4 August 2007|website=Capital Defense Weekly}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.justicedenied.org/executed.htm|title=Executed Innocents|publisher=Justicedenied.org|access-date=23 August 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124184742/http://justicedenied.org/executed.htm|archive-date=24 November 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mitglied.lycos.de/PeterWill/penal9.htm|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090522224521/http://mitglied.lycos.de/PeterWill/penal9.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 May 2009|title=Wrongful executions|publisher=Mitglied.lycos.de|access-date=23 August 2010}}</ref>

Some have claimed that as many as 39 executions have been carried out in the face of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt in the US from 1992 through 2004. Newly available [[DNA evidence]] prevented the pending execution of more than 15 death row inmates during the same period in the US,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/575.php |title=The Innocence Project – News and Information: Press Releases |publisher=Innoccenceproject.org |access-date=23 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702223208/http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/575.php |archive-date=2 July 2010}}</ref> but DNA evidence is only available in a fraction of capital cases.<ref name="CB2">{{cite web|last=Lundin|first=Leigh|title=Casey Anthony Trial– Aftermath|url=http://criminalbrief.com/?p=17459|work=Capital Punishment|publisher=Criminal Brief|location=Orlando|date=10 July 2011|quote=With 400 condemned on death row, Florida is an extremely aggressive death penalty state, a state that will even execute for drug trafficking.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911200202/http://criminalbrief.com/?p=17459|archive-date=11 September 2011}}</ref> {{as of|2017}}, 159 prisoners on death row have been exonerated by DNA or other evidence, which is seen as an indication that innocent prisoners have almost certainly been executed.<ref>Van Norman p. 288</ref><ref name=DPIC2015>{{cite web|title=Facts about the Death Penalty|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf|publisher=Death Penalty Information Center|access-date=23 December 2015|date=9 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212150147/http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf|archive-date=12 December 2015}}</ref> The National Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty claims that between 1976 and 2015, 1,414 prisoners in the United States have been executed while 156 sentenced to death have had their death sentences vacated.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ncadp.org/pages/innocence#_ftn6| title=Innocence| publisher=National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty| access-date=26 July 2019| archive-date=18 July 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718072653/http://www.ncadp.org/pages/innocence#_ftn6| url-status=dead}}</ref> It is impossible to assess how many have been wrongly executed, since courts do not generally investigate the innocence of a dead defendant, and defense attorneys tend to concentrate their efforts on clients whose lives can still be saved; however, there is strong evidence of innocence in many cases.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executed-possibly-innocent#also|title=Executed But Possibly Innocent &#124; Death Penalty Information Center|publisher=Deathpenaltyinfo.org|access-date=30 April 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413152426/http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executed-possibly-innocent#also|archive-date=13 April 2012}}</ref>

Improper procedure may also result in unfair executions. For example, Amnesty International argues that in Singapore "the [[Misuse of Drugs Act (Singapore)|Misuse of Drugs Act]] contains a series of presumptions which shift the burden of proof from the prosecution to the accused. This conflicts with the universally guaranteed right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty".<ref>Amnesty International, [https://www.amnesty.org/documents/asa36/001/2004/en "Singapore – The death penalty: A hidden toll of executions"] (January 2004)</ref> Singapore's Misuse of Drugs Act presumes one is guilty of possession of drugs if, as examples, one is found to be present or escaping from a location "proved or presumed to be used for the purpose of smoking or administering a controlled drug", if one is in possession of a key to a premises where drugs are present, if one is in the company of another person found to be in possession of illegal drugs, or if one tests positive after being given a mandatory [[drug test|urine drug screening]]. Urine drug screenings can be given at the discretion of police, without requiring a search warrant. The onus is on the accused in all of the above situations to prove that they were not in possession of or consumed illegal drugs.<ref>{{cite book|title=Misuse of Drugs Act (CHAPTER 185)|page=PART III EVIDENCE, ENFORCEMENT AND PUNISHMENT|url=http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/aol/search/display/view.w3p;page=0;query=Id%3A%223f9aff0b-a3bd-41da-be16-66daab867d04%22%20Status%3Apublished%20%20TransactionTime%3A20151123000000;rec=0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305015714/http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/aol/search/display/view.w3p;page=0;query=Id%3A%223f9aff0b-a3bd-41da-be16-66daab867d04%22%20Status%3Apublished%20%20TransactionTime%3A20151123000000;rec=0|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 March 2016|access-date=1 April 2019}}</ref>