Hank Skinner Case

                In the case of Harry Skinner I believe that staying his execution was a firm way of averting injustice.  This may not be true in the utilitarian sense of justice, in which the man should have been punished in which to deter and show others that the actions of murdering three people, regardless of whether it was him who committed the actions or not, is wrong.  Instead I am referring to the retributive theory that states a person should be punished based on the actions and wrong doings they commit.  Based on this theory, if Hank Skinner can be confirmed guilty, he should be punished severely for his wrongdoings.  However it should be noted that all the facts have not yet been presented in determining his guilt, even if the courts have said he is guilty.  Based on testimony and evidence at the scene a case is made that DNA testing is very important in this case while determining guilt or innocence.  An injustice was averted by not executing the man before all the facts that could officially determine guilt or innocence were put into consideration.

                The two rivaling websites, in my opinion, only use the same facts and distort them to serve their own agenda.  The websites also emphasize parts of the stories that help their cause, and downplay the information that might refute their stance.  For instance, the Hank Skinner is guilty site tries to disregard the high levels of alcohol and codeine in Skinner’s system and instead chooses to say he came in and out of some lucid stupor, making it possible for him to have committed the crime.  The Hank Skinner is innocent site plays up information that says one of the victims was sexually molested prior to her murder, while the guilty site tries to downplay that information and asserts that there is evidence to even say the woman wasn’t molested at all.  Both sides have come into the case with strong bias’s that aren’t based on evidence in the case.  Because of this they both distort or misrepresent the true evidence and facts that are there and this can lead to serious confusion to what the truth of the matter may be.  This may distract those trying to find more information about the case from what the true facts and details are about the case and only hurt the cause that leads towards true justice.

                The news articles present a condensed version of the case and some of its key facts.  This may be important for an uninformed reader to make somewhat of an informed opinion on what happened and what should result from the trial, as well as getting an idea of what may be necessary to see true justice come out.  Not to say that the news articles themselves may not be biased, the information from the paper The Nation seems to be more sympathetic towards the cause that Skinner should be given a reprieve until the new DNA evidence is presented in the case.  In any case the news articles are very useful when it comes to informing the public of the current situation and help convince others what it may or may not take for true justice to come to light.