Title: Why does it take so long to execute someone on death row? - Quora
Headings: Why does it take so long to execute someone on death row?
Why does it take so long to execute someone on death row?
Jamie Scoverski
Quora User
Ming Chun
Rihan Chowdhury

Content: If the process was faster, many of them would now be dead. The list continues to grow- even since DNA technology has been around- innocent people get sentenced to death. Appeals courts aren’t set up to revisit the critical question of actual guilt or innocence. Their purpose is only to make sure that the trial met constitutional standards of fairness, not that the jury reached the right conclusion. That's why the appeals process can hinge on technical errors. But it is the only way defendants can get evidence of actual innocence heard by an appeals court. In too many cases, prosecutors (to their great discredit) have fought against post conviction testing of DNA evidence. As the late Justice Scalia wrote, it is perfectly constitutional to execute an innocent man provided there were no procedural errors in the trial which established his guilt. Appeals courts exist to correct errors procedure of the trial court, not to endlessly retry every conviction. The Supreme Court has never ruled it unconstitutional to execute someone who is factually innocent.