[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
April 8 SOUTH AFRICA: CapeTalk callers debate the return of the death penalty According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNOCD), South Africa had the 5th highest murder rate in the world in 2015. The rate of crime in the country sparked a discussion between CapeTalk listeners and hosts Africa Melane and Lester Kiewit. Should government bring back the death penalty to stop these criminals from killing ask callers? This follows a shooting of a 46-year-old man at a filling station in Kenilworth over the weekend. The man was gunned down by 4 suspects who were later arrested in Goodwood and will appear in the Wynberg Magistrate court on murder charges. Most listeners seem to agree that the death penalty should be brought back. Guys caught in an act like this should get a death penalty, not long drawn out court cases where we as taxpayers should pay for their food and accommodation. You get caught in the act, you face death penalty finish and klaar. — Caller Enshrined in the Constitution is the right to life but what about the victims right to life? I think it is time the government listened to the call of the people who are becoming victims. — John, Caller The death penalty is coming back like it or not. Either the government catches up and bring it back or the people of South Africa will bring it back. Justice is being done in the street by vigilante groups already brings back the death penalty. — Sam, Caller We don't need a death penalty if we have a proper police force. — James, Caller When are we actually going to take criminals to task? We have criminals in our government and we don't know who to actually vote for. Our justice system is completely failing us...— Lauren, Caller (source: capetalk.co.za) ASIA: Lethal Fluctuations: The Death Penalty in Asia The Malaysian government last year expressed a surprise change of heart on a policy long held dear; it would reconsider the death penalty. The case of Muhammad Lukman, sentenced to death in August for the purchase and sharing of medicinal marijuana, did much to stimulate outrage. On October 10th, law minister Liew Vui Keong announced that it would be abolished. Doing so would leave such last bastions as Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. In other parts, capital punishment is either continuing its grim dance (in Singapore, usage is on the rise; in Vietnam, it remains consistently high) or getting back in business, singing its deadly siren song. Killing people in the name of state vengeance is becoming vogue even as it retreats in other contexts. The Kingdom of Brunei, despite having it on the books since the days of being a British protectorate, is only now contemplating, in all seriousness, putting people to death who have a liking, or find themselves, committing sodomy. (Lesbian reverie will see a penalty of 40 lashes and a potential prison sentence of 10 years.) In the Philippines, an aggressive, insistent President Rodrigo Duterte has proven something of a trail blazer, scorching his way through human rights quibbles and filling the morgues. In July 2017, he explained the rationale for using capital punishment without mercy in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA). “It is time for us to fulfil our mandate to protect our people. Tapos na’yan. For so long we have to act decisively on this contentious issue. Capital punishment is not only about deterrence, it’s also about retribution.” Duterte’s view of the penal code is stripped of ornate reasoning. It is one of vengeance and pessimism, marshalled against any hope of restorative justice or therapeutic reform. The law, a legacy of the Spaniards and then translated into English, with revisions, “is the essence of retribution.” The attitude there involved “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You took life, you must pay with it. That is the only way to even. You can’t place a premium on the human mind that he will go straight.” The result has been one of carnage: over 5,000 deaths between July 1, 2016 and November 30, 2018, if you believe the official figures, or the greater number of 12,000, if you believe in activist assessments. This pool drew on a total of 164,265 arrests (“drug personalities”, no less) as part of 115,435 anti-drugs operations. In Sri Lanka, the interest has also been rekindled, inspired, in no small part, by the blood lust of the Philippines leader. The Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena felt moved by Duterte’s efforts to combat drug trafficking, a true “example to the world”. “I hope to carry out the first hanging within a month or 2. I appeal to human rights organisations not to try to pressure us on this decision.” From a prison population of 1299 facing capital punishment, 48 are convicted drug offenders. The Sri Lankan case had a twist. While Sirisena had announced an end to the 43-year moratorium on capital punishment for drug-relate
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARK., USA
April 8 ARKANSAS: 'In The Executioner's Shadow' Film Screening at 5 p.m. April 10 in Giffels Auditorium A showing of the documentary film, "In The Executioner's Shadow," will be shown at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, in Giffels Auditorium in conjunction with the CRIM/SOCI 4013: Death Penalty course and supported by the Department of Sociology and Criminology. According to the film's website at intheexecutionersshadow.com/synopsis- "It is the potential of this documentary to move us toward a more enlightened society that excites me about this work." —Benjamin Jealous, former NAACP President In the Executioner's Shadow casts a penetrating look at the consequences of the death penalty through three powerful stories - the rare perspective of a former state executioner who comes within days of executing an innocent person; a Boston Marathon bombing victim who struggles to decide what justice really means; and the parents of a murder victim who choose to fight for the life of their daughter's killer. As the battle to overturn capital punishment comes to a head in the U.S., this provocative film challenges viewers to question their deepest beliefs about justice. As wrongful convictions, botched executions, and a broken justice system inch further into the spotlight, we must consider: What is justice? What part should the death penalty play? In the Executioner's Shadow allows a glimpse into Jerry's rarely seen world of death row and execution. It explores Karen's moral conflict as she attends the accused bomber's trial, a young man the same age as her son. It defies our perception of justice as Vicki and Syl fight for the life of their daughter's murderer. In the Executioner's Shadow illuminates the oft hidden realities entangled in death row, the death penalty, and the U.S. Justice system at large. This is a film about justice, injustice and the death penalty. Informational boards will be available and refreshments will be served prior the screening. All students are welcome! (source: uark.edu) USA: Democrats Rethink the Death Penalty, and Its Politics Almost immediately, Democratic presidential candidates lined up in support, calling capital punishment a moral outrage infected with racial bias. Senator Kamala Harris of California, a former prosecutor, called for a federal moratorium on executions. Former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas did the same. The moment marked a generational shift for a party where some candidates long supported the death penalty to protect themselves from being portrayed as soft on crime. But Democrats aren’t leading a national debate; they are following a decades-long trend that has seen support for the death penalty drop from nearly 80 % in the 1990s to just over 50 % now. Still, many feel that Mr. Newsom was doing his party no favors politically by forcing Democrats to talk about an issue that can still be fraught in a general election. Even in solidly Democratic California, voters in 2016 rejected a ballot initiative to end the death penalty and instead approved one to expedite executions. In short, the moment captured what has changed significantly and what has not with an issue that is hard-wired into the nation’s psyche. Like the proliferation of guns, capital punishment distinguishes the United States from other Western democracies, virtually all of which have banned it. Bill Whalen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution who once advised Pete Wilson, a Republican former governor of California, wrote in a column: “Every Democrat who wants to unseat President Trump now must figure out where they stand on the death penalty.” He continued: “For some triangulating Democrats, that’s a tricky balancing act given that capital punishment is despised by the party’s progressive base but is far more popular in the crime-and-order Heartland.” The new attention notwithstanding, presidents are limited in their power over capital punishment, several experts pointed out in interviews. A president could clear federal death row, but that includes only 62 people compared to more than 2,500 condemned inmates in state prisons. The federal government has executed only three people since it reinstated capital punishment in 1988 — one of them was Timothy McVeigh — and the last one was in 2003. The president has far greater power to determine the future of capital punishment in the United States by appointing justices to the Supreme Court. Experts expect the court to eventually rule on whether the Constitution allows executions at a time of increasing recognition of the enormous financial costs of the death penalty, high-profile exonerations and research showing persistent racial bias in capital cases. “The president, and what the president does, will bear very much on the Supreme Court’s thinking on this, because the president does reflect the national electorate,” said James S. Lie
