death penalty news August 11, 2004
CANADA: It's too easy for lifers to get out on parole The National Parole Board appears willing to roll the dice when setting free convicted killers and others serving life sentences. The latest incident, a brutal home-invasion killing last week of a 75-year-old man in Vernon, B.C., should spark a major independent review of the standards for setting free lifers, of whom more than 1,300 are now out on parole. Eric Norman Fish, who was serving an automatic life sentence for killing a man in a home invasion in 1984, was charged this week with first-degree murder in last week's death. The RCMP did not warn the community for six weeks after he disappeared from a halfway house, until two days after the killing. It now cites privacy laws as the reason it stayed mum. Is there a country on Earth that does not warn its citizens when a convicted killer is unlawfully at large? Mr. Fish should be considered innocent of last week's killing unless he is proven guilty. But his case is the tip of an iceberg. Between 1975 (the year before Canada abolished capital punishment) and 1999, 58 Canadians were killed by 37 parolees serving sentences for murder or manslaughter. Of those 37, 13 had beenconvicted of murder. The figures do not include those sentenced to life for offences other than murder, such as Robert Bruce Moyes, a bank robber and serial offender who pleaded guilty two years ago to killing seven people while out onparole. To read the decisions of the National Parole Board on Mr. Moyes (praised for "a more pro-social orientation") and Mr. Fish is to be aghast at how easy it is for lifers to gain their release. In 1984, at age 21, Mr. Fish, with a 16-year-old accomplice, fatally stabbed a 57-year-old man during a home invasion in Windsor, Ont. The victim was beaten, bound by the hand and foot and stabbed twice. There were attempts to strangle him and to suffocate him with a cushion and plastic bag. While in jail, Mr. Fish was found guilty of coercing money from his fellow inmates, keeping a home-made knife and using drugs. He escaped in 1998 and led police on a drunken, high-speed car chase. A loaded rifle was found in his vehicle. Yet the parole board, in a 2-1 decision, concluded that the risk of day parole was "not undue." It offered little hard data to support this decision. "This is based on the fact that over the past two years you have made steady progress towards demonstrating significant changes in your attitudes and behaviours. This change is evident in the fact that you are meeting all behavioural expectations at minimum-security and have successfully completed a very large number of Escorted Temporary Absences for personal development without concern." The dissenting member in Mr. Fish's case, citing "very recent" psychological and psychiatric reports and a history of deceitful behaviour, wasn't buying it. Yet the National Parole Board argues that its parole program for lifers is a success. Just 7 per cent of the lifers freed between 1994 and 2002 reoffended. (Another 9 per cent died and 11 per cent breached their release conditions and were returned to jail.) A success? Canadians did not sign on to having ex-killers released to kill again when Parliament abolished capital punishment in 1976 and created an automatic life sentence for first-degree and second-degree murder. Canadians wanted justice that was humane but that did not endanger the community. They are being short-changed. (source: Comment, globeandmail.com) ======================= INDIA: We know it, but the hangman doesn't Hangman Nata Mullick today said he was mentally prepared to hang the rape and murder convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee on August 14, but was peeved at not being informed by the authorities about the date of the hanging. Mullick, who was put under a round the clock security cover in his south Kolkata residence, told reporters that he had been confined to his house by security guards and not allowed to go out. But till this morning, no official had informed him about the date of the hanging. "Since I am going to do such a tough job, I should have been informed well in advance, but till now i do not have any official intimation. I came to know about the date from the media", an angry Mulick said. The West Bengal government yesterday decided to carry out the execution order of Chatterjee after his mercy plea was rejected by the President a week ago. Mullick, who has been the official hangman of the state government for decades, expressed his strong resentment at the way the authorities have been dealing with him. "They are doing something grossly wrong. Since I am yet to get any official communication about the hanging date, I can even drive away these security guards from my gate,"he said. He also alleged that he was not allowed to move out, saying, "I have been virtually confined to my home, otherwise I could have gone out and earn some money for living". But he said that he was mentally prepared to carry out the hanging on August 14 and that his son Mahadeb would be assisting him in the execution. "After me, my son Mahadeb will be the next hangman as I have seen how cool he was when we had carried out the execution of two murder convicts 11 years ago", he said. It was Nata Mullick, assisted by Mahadeb who had carried out the hanging of murder convicts Kartik Sil and Sukumar Burman in 1993, the last time capital punishment was carried out in the state. Mullick, however, alleged that he has been given raw deal by the authorities over the years and even now a promised full time job for his grandson had not been kept. While conceding that a letter appointing his grandson, Prabhat as sweeper-cup-hangman, has been received by the family only yesterday but he said it only a one-year contract at a monthly remuneration of Rs 2600. He was also frank that such occasions like this gives him opportunity to get his demands accepted by the authorities but gave no indication that these would be his pre-conditions for carrying out the vital job on August 14. (source: Chennai Online)
