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Death Penalty


John Dolva

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Wonderful news for those of us who oppose the death penalty.

State sponsored killings which often are economics driven, disproportionately of poor and disadvantaged, denies the people and nation from the benefits of finding forgiveness, sometimes kill innocents, perpetuates the cycle of violence breeding violence, devalues human life and therefore contributes to the perpetuation of the problem, absolves society from a range of responsibilities in treating those unfortunate enough to be of a mind to commit serious crimes etc etc etc There are far more civlized ways to remove dangerous people from the free population, which if society adopts, far reaching benefits can be had by all.

I know there are those who seriously supports the death penalty. I think they are wrong, but that doesn't mean at all that they are bad. I'd like to hear reasoned, non-vengeance arguments for the death penalty.

Yahoo news: California, Florida suspend executions By RON WORD, Associated Press Writer

5 minutes ago

"SAN FRANCISCO - Faced with grim testimony of poorly trained executioners operating in cramped, dimly lit quarters, a federal judge declared California's execution procedure unconstitutional.

The state's "implementation of lethal injection is broken............

The decision is the latest in a nationwide challenge to lethal injection — the preferred execution method in 37 states — and came as Florida Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all executions there after a bungled execution this week. Missouri's injection method, which is similar to California's, was declared unconstitutional last month by a federal judge.

Fogel said the California case raised the question of whether the three execution drugs administered by the San Quentin State Prison are so painful that they "offend" the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. He said he was compelled "to answer that question in the affirmative."

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld executions — by lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, electric chair and gas chamber — despite the pain they might cause, but has left unsettled the issue of whether the pain is unconstitutionally excessive.

California has been under a capital punishment moratorium since February..."

Edited by John Dolva
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  • 2 weeks later...

Saddam Hussein is facing the death penalty. Many nations and individuals are speaking out against this.

As a long time supporter of the Kurds, I too speak out against the death penalty.

Saddam's reign of terror against the Kurds was deplorable. At various times it was supported by the US, Iran, Turkey and others. The Kurds now are in a position to forge a new paradigm. End the cycle of violence.

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If the USA were a candidate country for entry to the EU, she'd have to abolish the death penalty just in order to be in consideration, since the absence of the death penalty is one of the thresholds the EU has establish to determine whether a candidate country is civilised and democratic.

Ironic, isn't it.

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  • 1 year later...
Saddam Hussein is facing the death penalty. Many nations and individuals are speaking out against this.

As a long time supporter of the Kurds, I too speak out against the death penalty.

Saddam's reign of terror against the Kurds was deplorable. At various times it was supported by the US, Iran, Turkey and others. The Kurds now are in a position to forge a new paradigm. End the cycle of violence.

I'm also against death penalty.

-----

In Turkey's long term fight against the terrorist organization (pkk), it must not be forgotten that many innocent people were killed from both sides.

I agree, Saddam's treatment towards civilians in Northern Iraq was horrendous.

At this point I also have to say, as a person who travelled to the border several times, I've never witnessed or heard of any acts of violence from the Turkish Army to

the Kurds who have nothing to do with the terrorist group.

Edited by Cigdem Eksi
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Just a brief head-in-the-tent visit to restate the base line:

Until the life of the terrorist is held to be as sacred as the life of the terrorized, the terror will continue.

The executioner is, by definition, suicidal.

Charles

It works both ways.

The terrorist's aim, by definiton, is to terrorize, therefore, no life is sacred and all can be expendable for "the cause"

however unreasonable it might be.

Considering this, the terrorized feel no sympathy for those who make them suffer, which is understandable.

But wanting to see them hanged is extreme.

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Just a brief head-in-the-tent visit to restate the base line:

Until the life of the terrorist is held to be as sacred as the life of the terrorized, the terror will continue.

The executioner is, by definition, suicidal.

Charles

It works both ways.

The terrorist's aim, by definiton, is to terrorize, therefore, no life is sacred and all can be expendable for "the cause"

however unreasonable it might be.

Considering this, the terrorized feel no sympathy for those who make them suffer, which is understandable.

But wanting to see them hanged is extreme.

The more extreme the terror, the greater the impulse to vengeance, the more sacred, liberating, and lasting the impacts of forgiveness.

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Just a brief head-in-the-tent visit to restate the base line:

Until the life of the terrorist is held to be as sacred as the life of the terrorized, the terror will continue.

The executioner is, by definition, suicidal.

Charles

It works both ways.

The terrorist's aim, by definiton, is to terrorize, therefore, no life is sacred and all can be expendable for "the cause"

however unreasonable it might be.

Considering this, the terrorized feel no sympathy for those who make them suffer, which is understandable.

But wanting to see them hanged is extreme.

The more extreme the terror, the greater the impulse to vengeance, the more sacred, liberating, and lasting the impacts of forgiveness.

Unfortunately, not every one of us chooses to forgive, that's why the terror probably will not end.

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  • 2 years later...
Just a brief head-in-the-tent visit to restate the base line:

Until the life of the terrorist is held to be as sacred as the life of the terrorized, the terror will continue.

The executioner is, by definition, suicidal.

Charles

It works both ways.

The terrorist's aim, by definiton, is to terrorize, therefore, no life is sacred and all can be expendable for "the cause"

however unreasonable it might be.

Considering this, the terrorized feel no sympathy for those who make them suffer, which is understandable.

But wanting to see them hanged is extreme.

The more extreme the terror, the greater the impulse to vengeance, the more sacred, liberating, and lasting the impacts of forgiveness.

Unfortunately, not every one of us chooses to forgive, that's why the terror probably will not end.

Realistically it's hard to deny that, yet hope springs eternal.

Sometimes the best is to draw a line in the sand and defy anyone to cross it.

One can only fail in a material sense.

There's a great song by an australian band called Redgum,. Actually the name of the album is also the name of the song. 'If you don't fight you lose'. (For some reason it's not on youtube). Anyway, if I've been too obscure, what I'm getting at is that if this cycle is ever to have a chance to end it will only be so by actions to make it so.

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  • 1 year later...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/15/carlos-texas-innocent-man-death

The wrong Carlos: how Texas sent an innocent man to his death

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1 June 2012 Last updated at 04:47 GMT

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FDA goes to court to secure drugs for lethal injections

By Matt McGrath Science reporter, BBC World Service

The US Food and Drug Administration is going to court to secure supplies of a drug used in lethal injections.

Sodium thiopental is used in many states to anaesthetise prisoners before the administration of other chemicals that extinguish life.

However supplies have dwindled in the US after a judge banned its importation in March.

Campaigners against the death penalty say the restrictions have forced a slowdown in the rate of executions.

The last US manufacturer of sodium thiopental ceased production in 2009. Since then the drug has been imported mainly from companies within the European Union. Several states purchased supplies from a UK based firm called Dream Pharma, run from a driving school in west London.

But these companies have in turn stopped delivering to the US as the European Union cracked down on the export of medicines that can be used in executions.

Legal confusion

........

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  • 2 years later...

26 June 2014

Japan: Secret execution a stain on justice system
148084_Noose_6.jpg

© © Orla 2011/Shutterstock.com

Instead of sending more people to the gallows there needs to be urgent reform of a justice system that at present is not worthy of the name.

Roseann Rife, East Asia Research Director at Amnesty Internaitonal
Thu, 26/06/2014

The Japanese authorities’ determination to continue with secret executions despite growing concern on the use of the death penalty in the country is a scar on the justice system, said Amnesty International.

Masanori Kawasaki, 68 was hanged early on Thursday morning at Osaka detention centre. He was convicted in 2008 of the murder of three relatives.

The execution is the first since a court ordered the immediate release in March of Hakamada Iwao, who spent more than four decades on death row after an unfair trial. Prosecutors have appealed the decision to grant Hakamada a retrial, despite the court stating police were likely to have fabricated evidence.

“It is deplorable that not long after fundamental flaws in Japan’s criminal justice system were so blatantly exposed, Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki has chosen to sign another death warrant,” said Roseann Rife, East Asia Research Director at Amnesty International.

“Instead of sending more people to the gallows there needs to be urgent reform of a justice system that at present is not worthy of the name.”

The execution– the first in 2014 – is the ninth since Prime Minister Abe’s government took office in December 2012. In Japan, the Justice Minister must authorize executions before they can be carried out. A total of 128 people remain on death row in Japan.

“This latest execution is at odds with growing calls within Japan for a halt in the use of the death penalty and calls for greater openness. The government needs to show leadership and start a full public debate on the use of the death penalty as an important first step to abolition,” said Roseann Rife.

In February, a group of former lay judges urged the Minister of Justice to halt executions until there is greater transparency in the use of capital punishment.

Executions are shrouded in secrecy in Japan with prisoners typically given only a few hours’ notice, but some may be given no warning at all. Their families are usually notified about the execution only after it has taken place.

“Death row inmates live under the constant fear of execution, never knowing from one day or the next if they are going to be put to death. This is adds psychological torture to an already cruel and inhumane punishment,” said Roseann Rife.

Japan is the only country other than the USA in the G8 group of countries to still use capital punishment. During 2013, overall only 22 countries – about one in 10 of all countries worldwide carried out executions.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime, the guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the offender or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The death penalty violates the right to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

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