[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, USA

[Rick Halperin]

March 25


OHIO:

Death Row Scot says no to cigarettes


DEATH Row Scot Kenny Richey has quit smoking ahead of the introduction of
the smoking ban in his native country.

Richey has now gone almost a month without a cigarette, and despite facing
execution by lethal injection, he and other prisoners are being provided
with nicotine patches and talks on how to quit the habit.

Edinburgh-born Richey, 41, has been in jail in the United States for
nearly 20 years after being sentenced to death for the murder of a
2-year-old child.

He has always denied the crime and his fiance Karen Torley - who prefers
to be known as Karen Richey - has been fighting to prove his innocence.

She said: "He is coping well, although now and then he has a craving for a
smoke. We had a bit of a laugh over how he and the others are on death row
but how they are supplied with nicotine patches and 'stop-smoking'
meetings.

"Being Scottish, of course, there is the 'black humour' of how they are
helping cleanse the poison of nicotine and tar from Death Row inmates'
bodies only to ultimately inject even worse poison into them to kill them
because the state says that is acceptable. He is now, of course, a
reformed smoker and thinks everyone - including me - should quit right
now."

(source: The Scotsman)





USA:

Some Want Death Penalty for Repeat Molesters----South Carolina Is
Proposing a Law That Would Sentence Repeat Offenders to Death


A drive in South Carolina seeks to impose the death penalty for second
convictions of raping children under age of 11.

"Raping a child is as horrific as taking a life," said South Carolina
State Sen. Kevin Bryant, R, "and I would like South Carolina to make a
statement to the nation that we take these crimes extremely seriously."

The new initiative coincides with the recent arrest in South Carolina of
Kenneth Hinson, a convicted rapist who allegedly raped 2 teenaged girls in
an underground "dungeon."

Hinson was released early his 18-year sentence for raping an 11-year-old
girl despite objections by prosecutors who said he would likely strike
again if freed.

'An Eye for an Eye'

Although Florida teacher Debra LaFave recently avoided jail time after
being charged with sexual assault involving a 14-year-old boy, more states
are imposing harsher sentences for child molesters.

Louisiana already has such a law on the books.

In Oklahoma, a similar proposal sailed through the state senate last week.
Other states have imposed longer sentences and tighter parole restrictions
for sex offenders and children.

Even in Florida, where the LaFave case too place, lawmakers enacted
tougher laws after the 2005 rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica
Lunsford. John Couey, a neighbor who had previously been convicted of
molesting a young girl, was found guilty of that crime.

"If you want to rape kids, you want to kill them?" said Mark Lunsford,
Jessica's father. "Death - it's an eye for an eye for children."

Lunsford has been traveling the country, pushing for harsher penalties for
child sex crimes.

"I'm not a lawmaker, I'm not a politician, I'm a citizen," Lunsford said.
"It's okay, you know, to let them know - [that] if you want to hurt a
child, you're going to get the death penalty."

Too Much?

Some say that the death penalty would encourage the offenders to kill
child victims because they would face the death penalty anyway. Other
critics say the punishment does not fit the crime.

"There's a real need to think about treatment and alternatives for sex
offenders rather than increase the punishment and - the death penalty,"
said Jennifer Daskal of Human Rights Watch.

Supporters of the tougher penalties say anyone who would sexually attack a
child twice should never get a third chance.

The last execution for a sex crime was for a 1964 Missouri rape. The U.S.
Supreme Court declared Missouri's law unconstitutional in 1977 because it
was disproportionate to the crime.

If South Carolina and Oklahoma pass these laws, the Supreme Court could be
asked again to decide whether they are legal.

(source: ABC News)