Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte calls human rights activists and opponents of the death penalty “stupid”

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJdvB_CgMOvy17F1molPd6yQS881DP0nWGDQOiOwARXLmYtSMjPrBCWoEjfc_TXMXfAWMWZ5ZRnCS8u6geMfLkHY6aShvp9zpWFEhejzF7-3wuODt8nNf5x3GHCK4lQ502zlo4-5iBsJI/s1600/Philippines-President-elect-Rodrigo-Duterte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Rodrigo Duterte" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJdvB_CgMOvy17F1molPd6yQS881DP0nWGDQOiOwARXLmYtSMjPrBCWoEjfc_TXMXfAWMWZ5ZRnCS8u6geMfLkHY6aShvp9zpWFEhejzF7-3wuODt8nNf5x3GHCK4lQ502zlo4-5iBsJI/s400/Philippines-President-elect-Rodrigo-Duterte.jpg" title="Rodrigo Duterte" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rodrigo Duterte</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">During a speech Monday, Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte — who has sworn off interviews with the press — reiterated his support for capital punishment as a retaliatory measure and not a deterrent, disparaging human rights activists and opponents of the death penalty as “stupid.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I believe in retribution. Why? You should pay. When you kill someone, rape, you should die,” Duterte <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20160627-philippines-duterte-says-wants-death-penalty-revenge" target="_blank">said in a speech Monday</a> in Davao City, where he was mayor for two decades before winning the presidency this year and has been succeeded by his daughter, Sara Duterte. “These human rights (groups), congressmen, how stupid you are,” he added, promising to restore the death penalty. “He promised that tens of thousands of people would die, with security forces being given shoot to kill orders,” Agence France-Presse notes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“When they describe or characterise a human rights violator, these fools make it appear that the people you kill are saints, as if they are pitiful or innocent,” he said of human rights activists and United Nations officials who have publicly reprimanded Duterte for his repeated promises to kill as many violent criminals as possible and offer police who perform extrajudicial killings legal protection.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Duterte <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/05/10/heavily-catholic-philippines-votes-law-order-populist-rodrigo-duterte/" target="_blank">won the presidency</a> by a wide margin in early May, campaigning on his record as mayor. Davao City remains one of the few safe places on the southern island of Mindanao, home to the nation’s largest Muslim population and jihadist gangs like Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Following his victory, he has repeatedly vowed to increase the number of drug suspects killed by law enforcement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/137654-duterte-cebu-drug-users-pushers-killed" target="_blank">On Saturday</a>, Duterte vowed to kill not only drug traffickers, but drug addicts. “If I couldn’t convince you to stop, I’ll have you killed… if you’re into drugs, I’m very sorry. I’ll have to apologize to your family because you’ll surely get killed.” he said in a speech, adding, “the problem is once you’re addicted to shabu [methamphetamine], rehabilitation is no longer an option.” The Philippines website Rappler notes that at least 54 drug suspects have been killed since Duterte won the presidential election.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to insisting on the return of capital punishment, Duterte has asserted that he prefers hanging to more expensive forms of execution. “I’m asking for re-imposition of death penalty so that I can hang them,” <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/06/25/1596516/duterte-insists-death-penalty-hanging" target="_blank">he said last week</a>, arguing that the influence of drugs “reduced human beings into bestial state [sic].”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also reiterated in different remarks last week that he neither believes that capital punishment deters criminals, nor does he believe deterrence is a relevant issue in reviving the practice. “Death penalty to me is the retribution. It makes you pay for what you did,”<a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/06/22/1595645/duterte-death-penalty-retribution-not-deterrent">he stated clearly</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the same speech, to police, he said, “If you kill 1,000, tell them it was ordered by Duterte. Period. I will deal with everybody.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In response to Duterte’s repeated calls for the execution of drug criminals, leading drug traffickers have <a href="https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/06/filipino-drug-lords-set-1-million-bounty-duterte-police-chief/" target="_blank">placed a million-dollar bounty on Duterte himself</a>. He has responded by offering government-sanctioned bounties available to civilians if they killed the drug lords placing a bounty on his head. “If he (drug lord) puts P50 million for my life, I will put P60 million. Kill him. No questions asked. We can match each other’s price,” <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/06/24/1596319/duterte-match-drug-lords-bounty-his-head" target="_blank">Duterte said last week</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Duterte also bizarrely stated on Monday that he would not run for president again if he knew that he would win. “You know, if I can go back in time, I would decide not to run for president. Honestly, swear to God. If this is just a bad dream, I hope it is,” he said Monday, “<a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/06/27/1597203/duterte-admits-wanting-go-back-time" target="_blank">during his final flag ceremony as mayor of Davao City</a>.” He added a protest that his salary is not enough to maintain his common-law wife and pay his ex-wife alimony.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While Duterte has given speeches this month, he has not entertained questions from the media sine early June. “I won’t grant interviews. Sorry. It’s really a boycott,” <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/06/07/duterte-boycotts-media/" target="_blank">he announced</a>, adding the boycott would lift when his six-year term as president was over.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Duterte will be inaugurated into office on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/world/asia/philippines-election-rodrigo-duterte.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Thursday, June 30</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/06/27/philippines-duterte-human-rights-activists-stupid/" target="_blank">breibart.com</a>, Frances Martel, June 27, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div>

deterrence Drug trafficking Human Rights Philippines Rodrigo Duterte Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte calls human rights activists and opponents of the death penalty “stupid”

Rodrigo Duterte During a speech Monday, Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte — who has sworn off interviews with the press — reiterat...

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Catholic bishops challenge Duterte over death penalty

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhstEr204g0CXz541o00JhwFvqAredBV1Jjjjl8s6iEbA15PfLyzovyrEd3ktbiYebuqhmY7ujQur-d4Jrf7nbmcHoG67SrsKH-XJEjMwxes_Tn3F6qmFih3wLPRxq5FMwLFdvBNJ_A-w/s1600/Duterte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Rodrigo Duterte" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhstEr204g0CXz541o00JhwFvqAredBV1Jjjjl8s6iEbA15PfLyzovyrEd3ktbiYebuqhmY7ujQur-d4Jrf7nbmcHoG67SrsKH-XJEjMwxes_Tn3F6qmFih3wLPRxq5FMwLFdvBNJ_A-w/s400/Duterte.jpg" title="Rodrigo Duterte" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rodrigo Duterte</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The Catholic Church in the Philippines will petition the new president against reintroducing the death penalty in the country, according to Fides.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The president of the Episcopal Conference of the Philippines, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, said he will seek a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte to urge him to stop his plans to reintroduce the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Several bishops have challenged Duterte's plan to submit a measure to Philippine Congress to restore the death penalty, which was abolished in 2006.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He hopes to apply it for offences including drug offences, rape, robbery, car theft and corruption.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Archbishop of Lipa, Ramon Arguelles, disputed Duterte's claim that the death penalty is a deterrent towards crime. He said he hoped the move "does not happen, especially while the Church celebrates the year of mercy".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking at the Sixth World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Oslo last week, Pope Francis called the death penalty "unacceptable".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It is an offence to the inviolability of life and to the dignity of the human person. It likewise contradicts God's plan for individuals and society, and his merciful justice," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Nor is it consonant with any just purpose of punishment. It does not render justice to victims, but instead fosters vengeance. The commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' has absolute value and applies both to the innocent and to the guilty."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bishops in the Philippines echoed the Pope's sentiments.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"God alone has power over life. God gives life and God takes it away. No one should play God," said Bishop of Balanga, Ruperto Santos. Instead, the government should "reform... the judicial and prison system," he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Christian Today, June 23, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipmq0DhajTlJNqXpU-4Ix_7ZOCiPn9B9LcZmp-2OVpepvzVmmNcpde-Ui3Trpa5eyYQl4TMRNGCD-NPFQJi3jtFXEQuOSAQfcmqt-2z1T3LfMo1VuK3-KQmLFkUCNcLohAL7BSmAK-Ufc/s1600/Vatican+Pope+Francis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipmq0DhajTlJNqXpU-4Ix_7ZOCiPn9B9LcZmp-2OVpepvzVmmNcpde-Ui3Trpa5eyYQl4TMRNGCD-NPFQJi3jtFXEQuOSAQfcmqt-2z1T3LfMo1VuK3-KQmLFkUCNcLohAL7BSmAK-Ufc/s320/Vatican+Pope+Francis.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Bishops in Philippines will oppose bid to restore capital punishment</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Catholic bishops of the Philippines will strongly oppose a bit by newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte to restore the death penalty, the Fides news service reports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, the president of the country's episcopal cofnerence, says that he will ask to meet with Duterte in a bid to dissuade him from his plan to reintroduce capital punishment. Several other bishops have made statements opposing that plan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Duterte campaigned for the presidency on a tough law-and-order platform, and argued for the execution of criminals convicted of grave crimes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: catholicculture.org, June 23, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

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Rodrigo Duterte The Catholic Church in the Philippines will petition the new president against reintroducing the death penalty in the countr...

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Malaysia may amend death penalty: Minister

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH7ji2tP8LRymIBQTRNDafykHThERGQH3KjGn-T3hg07t52fXf6xUhCe3Lyy2SRr1QncvFsV9N6dkDiOxXXMviVl2XsbP9RkuVatyyabwk8nNkpMqRcekolIKaOlb7qBulwCNe-F1xpDg/s1600/Malaysia+Airport+Meth+Bust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Meth bust in Malaysia" border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH7ji2tP8LRymIBQTRNDafykHThERGQH3KjGn-T3hg07t52fXf6xUhCe3Lyy2SRr1QncvFsV9N6dkDiOxXXMviVl2XsbP9RkuVatyyabwk8nNkpMqRcekolIKaOlb7qBulwCNe-F1xpDg/s400/Malaysia+Airport+Meth+Bust.jpg" title="Meth bust in Malaysia" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meth bust in Malaysia</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Malaysia may amend the death sentence mandatory for 12 criminal offences after government-backed studies showed that the capital punishment had not led to the desired effects.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“There are positive signs in Malaysia and a steady momentum towards possible change in the death penalty legislation,” Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri told the World Congress Against The Death Penalty in Oslo recently.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Currently, the death penalty is mandatory in Malaysia for 12 offences while 20 other offences are punishable with discretionary death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Murder, drug trafficking, and offences related to security are punishable with death, Nancy said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The minister said that a government-backed study on the death penalty had been completed and a paper was being readied by the Attorney General’s Chambers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The study was conducted by the International Centre For Law and Legal Studies (I-CeLLS).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, Nancy said empirical studies showed that the death penalty had not led to “the deterring effect that such a penalty was created.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Although Malaysia is generally in compliance with international standards in so far as the relevant safeguards (on capital punishment) are concerned, Malaysia’s position on death penalty has always been subjected to national and international criticisms.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/malaysia-may-amend-death-penalty-minister/255386.html" target="_blank">The Tribune</a>, June 22, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

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Meth bust in Malaysia Malaysia may amend the death sentence mandatory for 12 criminal offences after government-backed studies showed that t...

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Malaysia government open to replacing death with life

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgde7b6U00kwNAt6_7MWRM4XM37WvGyVeD7H1YPeyZiXu_8b-DCdPloLQFS8v82uVb5VwC64FbPQ3bFKv5zyDJQaNzOSBORJ8-SgKJLzglGPBXsYHHzKpKFIJfTzN3OcXq1YWMoOTQPavg/s1600/Three+Mexican+brothers+sentenced+to+death+in+Malaysia+for+drug+trafficking+in+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Three Mexican brothers sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug trafficking in 2012" border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgde7b6U00kwNAt6_7MWRM4XM37WvGyVeD7H1YPeyZiXu_8b-DCdPloLQFS8v82uVb5VwC64FbPQ3bFKv5zyDJQaNzOSBORJ8-SgKJLzglGPBXsYHHzKpKFIJfTzN3OcXq1YWMoOTQPavg/s400/Three+Mexican+brothers+sentenced+to+death+in+Malaysia+for+drug+trafficking+in+2012.jpg" title="Three Mexican brothers sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug trafficking in 2012" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three Mexican brothers sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug trafficking in 2012</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">While the study on whether to keep the death penalty is ongoing, the Government is open to proposals on the matter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nancy Shukri says the Government is considering suggestions to improve the current justice system including whether to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment, as mooted by several parties including the Malaysian Bar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I really want to see the amendment to the mandatory death penalty be passed and implemented prior to the 14th general election," she tells Sunday Star.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nancy, who is the minister in charge of law, points out that the study requires a long time as a very comprehensive review needs to be carried out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Government needs to balance the interest of the accused, victim and public at large before making a decision.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Whatever decision made will be done in the best interest of the rakyat," she says.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Presently, the Attorney-General's Chambers is conducting an in-depth study on the death penalty in Malaysia, studying the legal issues, policies and effectiveness of the punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Concurring with Amnesty International's call to abolish the death sentence, the Malaysian Bar hopes that it can be replaced - with life imprisonment instead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bar Council Human Rights Committee co-chairman Andrew Khoo says the Bar has passed several resolutions over the years, calling for capital punishment to be done away with.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We also call upon the Government to repeal all mandatory death sentences, because judges should be given the discretion in sentencing," he urges.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He explains that mandatory sentencing robs judges of the opportunity to exercise their discretion to hand down other forms of punishment apart from the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It is an executive interference in the independence of the judiciary," Khoo adds.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also says the Government should release the findings of the study conducted on the death penalty once it is completed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are some who believe the death sentence should remain.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Seri Shaik Daud Md Ismail stresses that Malaysia still needs the current mandatory death penalty for serious offences like drug trafficking and murder.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Things should remain as per status quo. If we abolish the death sentence, there will be more crimes like drug trafficking.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Although the death penalty has not reduced such cases in the past, removing it will only cause the number of cases to spike drastically," he opines.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shaik Daud, once a prosecutor with the Attorney-General's Chambers, believes the death sentence is a deterrent and doing away with it will only embolden more criminals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also says that the death penalty should continue to be made mandatory for serious crimes such as terrorism and drug trafficking.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"In the past, before the death sentence was made mandatory for drug trafficking, judges had the option of handing down life sentences as an alternative.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"When I was prosecuting in such cases last time, most judges went for the alternative but it wasn't a strong deterrent," he says, adding that the Government later decided to do away with the alternative punishment and imposed the mandatory death sentence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is also more practical for the Government to keep the death sentence, he says.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If we change all death sentences to life imprisonment, the Government would have to bear the costs of housing and feeding them (the convicted) to look after them for the rest of their lives.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Why should tax payers be burdened by this when the criminals have done heinous crimes?"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shaik Daud notes that such prisoners would have time to reflect on their deeds before their execution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Senior lawyer Tan Sri Khalid Ahmad Sulaiman says the death penalty should be used based on circumstances and only if the intent to commit serious crimes especially murder, is proven.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Otherwise, it should be replaced with life imprisonment," says the former Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board chairman.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Star, June 19, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

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Three Mexican brothers sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug trafficking in 2012 While the study on whether to keep the death penalty is o...

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The Gratuitous Death Penalty Cases Against Dylann Roof

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgILpkrTUszCUcVSrQVSYE-9otH_XCMyPoCBCvLVutQ-rmnQex4f-chMz2CPISq0iDBF-5tg8R3WdOiy2OjjtMklMpecALHI4S3EFgIgoIdjQdY-8fLCN6ev_osKJ-SqnzmUtWkxeTUJ9E/s1600/Dylann+Roof_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Dylann Roof" border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgILpkrTUszCUcVSrQVSYE-9otH_XCMyPoCBCvLVutQ-rmnQex4f-chMz2CPISq0iDBF-5tg8R3WdOiy2OjjtMklMpecALHI4S3EFgIgoIdjQdY-8fLCN6ev_osKJ-SqnzmUtWkxeTUJ9E/s400/Dylann+Roof_02.jpg" title="Dylann Roof" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dylann Roof</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The federal government announced last week that it would seek the death penalty in its case against Dylann S. Roof, the man arrested last June for killing nine African Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church. It will be the 2nd death penalty trial that he is facing. The state of South Carolina is also seeking the death penalty in its murder trial of Roof.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last year in July, a federal grand jury indicted Roof, then 21, for hate crimes, weapons charges and obstructing the practice of religion. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said upon announcing the 33-count indictment: "We think that this is exactly the type of case that the federal hate crimes statutes were, in fact, conceived of to cover. Racially motivated violence such as this is the original domestic terrorism."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's not among the crimes he's charged with but terrorism it was. Roof has told investigators he was seeking to incite a race war. A website belonging to him called The Last Rhodesian showed photos of him wearing emblems of white supremacist movements. A manifesto Roof had posted on the website said the 2012 Trayvon Martin case had alerted him to the problem of black on white violence, which led him to begin researching white supremacy groups on the internet. The manifesto called for the subjection of black people to whites and the reimposition of slavery.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Citing the fact that more than 2 people were killed in the June 17, 2015, slayings, South Carolina prosecutor Scarlett Wilson announced in September she would seek the death penalty in Roof's trial for murder, now scheduled to begin in January. Roof has offered to plead guilty to the murders in exchange for a life sentence without parole. He's also offered to plead guilty to the federal charges, but his lawyers advised against his doing so until they knew whether the federal government would seek the death penalty in its case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The pursuit of the death penalty will make both trials much more expensive. A 2014 study in Kansas found that cases without the death penalty cost an average of $740,000 while cases where the death penalty was sought cost $1.26 million. A 2010 study of federal death penalty cases found that they make the trial almost 8 times as expensive as cases where the death penalty is not sought. Imprisoning Roof for life would almost certainly cost taxpayers less than the cost of executing him. In California, a death row prisoner costs taxpayers $90,000 more per year to maintain than a prisoner in the general population serving a life sentence without parole. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the average time a prisoner spends on death row is 190 months, or about 16 years. Some spend far longer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Do prosecutors seek the death penalty because they believe it acts as a deterrent? There's little evidence that it does. A 2012 report by the National Research Council, titled "Deterrence and the Death Penalty," stated that studies claiming that the death penalty has an effect on murder rates are fundamentally flawed and should not be used when making policy decisions. A 2009 survey by Professor Michael Radelet and attorney Traci Lacock of leading criminologists found 88 % of them did not believe execution deters homicide. Fewer than 10 % of the criminologists surveyed believed empirical data supports there being a deterrent effect to the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is probably even less deterrent value to the death penalty in terrorism cases than in criminal cases. Most terrorists are aware of the possible consequences to their acts and proceed anyway. Some terrorists want to be martyrs, and their execution can enhance their image and increase publicity and fundraising for their cause, if not in the country where their crimes are committed then abroad.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-m_Zu1GhWwWMyBqL9xR6Xb97byVRWz8E9WYytQnnXgaj0-JO2x84xPJZrDixbTPNzPJASm69bntScThO4Vamnr_T9HzCkarKm0DDldZUWuaAuDvPL45PcMl2HThQ2OphE3byWROt02g/s1600/money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-m_Zu1GhWwWMyBqL9xR6Xb97byVRWz8E9WYytQnnXgaj0-JO2x84xPJZrDixbTPNzPJASm69bntScThO4Vamnr_T9HzCkarKm0DDldZUWuaAuDvPL45PcMl2HThQ2OphE3byWROt02g/s400/money.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two death penalty cases going forward for Roof seem redundant and gratuitous. While the federal case may have been filed simply to ensure Roof doesn't escape punishment, there seems little chance of that happening. Hate crime statutes make most sense when they are applied to situations where local bias or bigotry would impede conviction of wrongdoers. When they are used simply to pile on further punishment, they can take on some of the aspects of show trials, with the longer sentences meted out appearing unjustified. Were the state and federal government not insistent on seeing Roof get death, accepting his offer to plead guilty would provide the quickest and most economical route to punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the shooting, many of those who lost family and friends in the slaughter at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church offered forgiveness to Roof. Their simple example of Christian charity stands in stark contrast to the complicated legal measures predicated on the desire for his execution. If the murders at the historic African-American church reflect the dark, underlying power of racism in our society, the legal proceedings over those murders reflect the senseless and excessive costs of our system of justice, costs that go beyond dollars and cents.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As a society, Americans seem driven by the desire to punish and punish harshly. Excessive severity is repeated at so many levels, in so many ways, throughout the system. The government's decisions to try Roof twice on death penalty charges seems a literal example of the overkill that riddles our system and wastes both dollars and human life.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: America Magazine, June 8, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Costs deterrence Dylann Roof Federal DP Hate crime Mass shooting Racism South Carolina USA White supremacist The Gratuitous Death Penalty Cases Against Dylann Roof

Dylann Roof The federal government announced last week that it would seek the death penalty in its case against Dylann S. Roof, the man arre...

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Prison chaplains share reasons for their opposition to the death penalty

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFM2WM6TRimibTTcaXrCzJ7xvwKND-EA_sGD_NLiJ73JJySOpDFmKG08tJeK_kmjCjSTFpEi1c0UYVyc9yDPb0c_LlLDB7akwHGFEk9q8FcgdlK-AZ9OWPqxMtlkZOnqsjAY1rnxKzbzk/s1600/Missouri+Death+Chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Missouri death chamber" border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFM2WM6TRimibTTcaXrCzJ7xvwKND-EA_sGD_NLiJ73JJySOpDFmKG08tJeK_kmjCjSTFpEi1c0UYVyc9yDPb0c_LlLDB7akwHGFEk9q8FcgdlK-AZ9OWPqxMtlkZOnqsjAY1rnxKzbzk/s400/Missouri+Death+Chamber.jpg" title="Missouri death chamber" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Missouri death chamber</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The Rev. Sam Duckworth said his opposition to the death penalty began at age 6 when he saw a man beaten to death by a plantation owner in Mississippi.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The plantation owner would administrate the justice. He was the judge, the arrestor, accuser, prosecutor and executor," Duckworth said. "I opposed the death penalty from that day on, watching someone get whooped to death."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His wife, Patricia, made the same decision after seeing the man who murdered her niece in the courtroom.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I had some very mixed emotions sitting there in that courtroom not knowing," said Patricia Duckworth.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I had this pull on me where I thought, 'This man deserves to die for what he did,' and then my heart is saying, 'No, maybe he shouldn't.'"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Duckworths and a 3rd chaplain discussed the death penalty and their experiences with death row inmates on Saturday at the Unitarian-Universalist Church. The panel discussion was organized by Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 3 panelists have been affiliated with the Potosi Correctional Center, a maximum security facility in Washington County.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They all agreed that inmates can change during long prison sentences, so the individual facing execution may not be the same as the one who committed the crime.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Sometimes executions might take 20 to 25 years," Patricia Duckworth said. "In that time, sometimes you see a person that's become a new creature."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The panel also noted that executions contradict the purpose of the restorative justice programs underaken by inmates.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since Missouri allows death row inmates to take part in the restorative justice system, they shouldn't be suddenly cut off from it, said the Rev. Herb Conley.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If you are going to give a man a chance to restore himself, and he does, then why shouldn't he have the right to continue to be a part of that community?" he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Conley said he didn't have an abrupt awakening to an opposition to the death penalty, but his advocacy is no less strong.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In an unprecedented move for a chaplain, he said he submitted affidavits to Gov. Jay Nixon in unsuccessful attempts to stop 2 executions during his time in Potosi.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Patricia Duckworth cited the case of a death row inmate in Potosi named Leon Taylorwho was able to transform himself during his time in prison through religion, she said. He was playing guitar in the worship band when his execution date was set.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I saw the effects that he had on the other inmates," she said. "He modeled before them just what the Lord had placed in his spirit and how he was going to carry on."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Taylor asked both Duckworths to witness his execution. Patricia Duckworth credited God and Taylor's transformation for their ability to watch his death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Some of those hearts in the prison are actually changed," she said. "Leon Taylor was one of those people."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The death penalty no longer serves its intended purpose as a deterrent to violent crime, Conley said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If we want to do it as a deterrent, we need to do it like we used to - put them out there in a hanging or a guillotine and let the whole world see," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Columbia Missourian, June 5, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

deterrence Missouri Religion Restorative justice USA Prison chaplains share reasons for their opposition to the death penalty

Missouri death chamber The Rev. Sam Duckworth said his opposition to the death penalty began at age 6 when he saw a man beaten to death by a...

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