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Opinion: Judi Atwood--Honorable Jared Polis decision on abolishing the death penalty

Last night I posted a public thank you to Honorable Jared Polis in regards to abolishing the death penalty in Colorado.
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This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

Last night I posted a public thank you to Honorable Jared Polis in regards to abolishing the death penalty in Colorado. I was attacked by those that clearly believe in sentencing people to death, that an "eye for an eye" will bring peace to someone that was a victim or families of a horrific crime.

Supreme Court cases and law makers can argue the eighth and the fourteenth amendments and previous cases. As a Boulder County resident one of the screaming factors in my decision to support the abolishing of the the death penalty is our DA Michael Dougherty. In 2018 our DA stated the need in Boulder County to establish a Victims Integrity Unity. Micheal went on record stating the following “A prosecutor’s mission is to do justice in every single case, and not to rack up convictions like notches in a gun belt,” he said. “If there is reason to believe someone is wrongfully convicted, prosecutors should have an open mind and a process to examine those cases.” Clearly Boulder County we have a problem. "Prosecutors should have an open mind" what about the attorneys? The officers of the court that determine how evidence will be presented in a case? The entire justice system seems to depend on the way evidence is presented or conveniently left out to influence a decision. Unethical probably but what about the other factors the human factors including relying on all the evidence to be presented on a police report and other evidence?

In 2005 Dr David J. Smith published the results of his "Reliability and Maintainability and Risk" assessment. No this study did not evolve around criminal justice but manufacturing but what he demonstrated can and should be applied to any industry. Dr. David J. Smith found human element and human factor error is real and unavoidable. In addition his studies determine that when task are structured in ways that require great care that humans preform especially badly under complicated non-routine conditions and especially under stressful conditions.

How can you suspend the life of anyone under the current criminal justice system that relies so heavily on Prosecutors, Attorneys and Police that are simply human's placed under conditions that inhibit the ability to present evidence without factors that clearly can and will present unavoidable errors? Also how can you take a life when we know that attorneys are acting in the best interest of pleasing one party just to be paid?

Judi Atwood
Longmont CO 80501

Sincerely,
Judi-Beth Atwood

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