[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
July 27 INDIA: 90 % Indian states want to retain death penalty: Kishan ReddyIn August 2015, the Law Commission had recommended abolition of death penalties except in cases of terrorism and waging war against India. 90 % of the states have supported retaining death penalty in the country, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Friday where a private member's bill seeking abolition of capital punishment came up for consideration. Responding to the debate, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said the government is examining the issue and is yet to take a final call. In August 2015, the Law Commission had recommended abolition of death penalties except in cases of terrorism and waging war against India. Since, the matter falls within the concurrent list of the constitution, the centre had sought the opinion of states in October 2015. After several reminders, 14 states and 5 Union Territories responded. "90 % want to retain death penalty except one state," Reddy said. No society wants to kill a person, but on the other side there are some heinous crimes like Nirbhaya also within the same society, the minister said. "The government is seized of the matter and is examining this issue. It may take a view on the report after reaching a broad consensus on this matter," said Reddy. Over concerns that in some cases innocent and poor people could be wrongly convicted, the minister told the Members said that the country's constitution has provided several tiers of steps to safeguard the innocents. "If a trial court awards capital punishment, then it could be appealed before the High Court and then to the governor of state. If governor also rejects, then he can appeal before the Supreme Court and finally before the President of India," Reddy said. He further said: "Death penalty is given only in exceptional and unavoidable situations." Citing the Nation Crime Records Bureau, the minister said that capital punishment was given to only one person each in 2012 and 2013 respectively, while it was zero in 2014 and one in 2015. "The President of India has received 135 mercy petitions, in which 34 was dismissed, 91 were allowed and one file is still pending," he added. The minister further said that two days ago, the same House had passed The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which had provisions of death penalty for aggravated sexual assault on children. There is also demand of capital punishments across the country, the minister said, while referring to Nirbhaya case. Reddy further said Afzal Guru, who was hanged, had planned to attack on the same parliament in which we are sitting today. To protect the Parliament, nine people were martyred and the families of those people also had "fundamental rights." The Abolition of Capital Punishment bill was moved by Congress member Pradeep Tamta. Tamta called for proper investigation and police reforms apart from ensuring time-bound compensation to the victims. He said the government should examine the Law Commission's report, and observed that globally, sentiments were against capital punishment. While participating in the debate, Ashok Bajpai said the society needs capital punishment as it acts as deterrent against the serious and heinous crimes. Although, very few people are given capital punishment, as execution of Afzal Guru was 53rd since independence, but it has fear and pressure on the criminals. P L Punia said that 140 countries have no provisions of capital punishment and 33 countries have not awarded capital punishment in the last 10 years. Ram Gopal Yadav of SP said capital punishment does not act as a deterrent against crime. Prasanna Acharya of BJD, Manoj Kumar Jha of RJD, Satyanarayan Jatiya of BJP, Amar Patnaik of BJD and L Hanumanthaiah of INC also participated in the debate. (source: economictimes.indiatimes.com) PHILIPPINES: Church in Philippines rejects president's call to revive death penalty Catholic leaders in the Philippines are calling on Catholics and lawmakers to resist President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to revive the death penalty. The president called for its reinstatement during a lengthy State of the Nation Address in Manila July 22, while activists, clergy, seminarians, and nuns protested the president in the rainy streets, according to UCA News. Church leaders have said that despite his claims of success, Duterte has helped bring about “the most trying period in the nation’s history.” "A vision of a country where peace and justice reigns, sovereignty is cherished and human rights are upheld ... has been sliding into oblivion," an ecumenical group said in a statement, according to UCA News. The country, the group noted, is undergoing a crisis that is not only social and political, but moral and spiritual as well. "The regression of our country’s democracy, the emboldenment of a tyrannical
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA
July 27 USA: The Government’s Arguments for Restoring the Death Penalty All Fail Thursday, Attorney General William Barr announced that the federal government would begin executing people for the 1st time since 2003. He seemed to justify this decision in 4 ways: 1st, the death penalty is what the American people want, 2nd, these people have committed acts so heinous that no one should care if they live or die, 3rd, the system is fair and accurate, and 4th, killing prisoners will bring peace to victims. “Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the president,” Attorney General Barr said. “Under administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals, including these 5 murderers, each of whom was convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding. The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.” All of these arguments fail. The death penalty in the U.S. is dying. New death sentences are plummeting, and the few that do come down are coming from a handful of outlier jurisdictions, with 31 percent of the sentences coming from three counties: Riverside in California, Clark in Nevada, and Maricopa in Arizona. 2 % of counties nationwide now account for the majority of prisoners on states’ death rows. Even when prosecutors seek the death penalty, juries around the country are often resisting them. In Wake County, North Carolina, home to Raleigh, juries have declined to sentence a defendant to death in eight out of eight cases over the last decade. After the last life sentence, the elected prosecutor stated: “At some point, we have to step back and say, ‘Has the community sent us a message on that?’” A Gallup poll in October 2018 found that 56 % of Americans still favor the death penalty for murder. But these numbers have trended downward since the mid-1990s. And, as Matt Ford noted in The New Republic, “While most Americans may favor the death penalty in theory, the actual practice is a remote abstraction for them.” According to Rob Smith, executive director of The Justice Collaborative (publisher of the Daily Appeal), the more revealing metric for public support is that when asked to make real life-or-death decisions about a real person in a real case, prosecutors increasingly don’t seek and jurors don’t return death sentences. Curiously, only 49 % of Americans told Gallup they thought the death penalty was applied fairly. This might prompt a person to ask: What’s going on with the 7 % of people who don’t agree that the death penalty is applied fairly but are still in favor of it? We might wonder why we don’t defer more to experts, who tell us that the death penalty is not only unfairly applied, but it also accomplishes none of its stated goals. Recently, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to declare that the death penalty violates the state’s Constitution. “Because of the arbitrary manner in which it has been applied, the death penalty violates our state Constitution’s prohibition against cruel punishments,” his office argued in a brief. “It really is not about the worst offenders,” Krasner told The Appeal. “It really is about poverty. It really is about race.” Out of the 45 people on death row from Philadelphia, 37 are Black, and 4 are from other “minority groups,” according to the brief. 72 % of Philadelphia’s death cases have been overturned, almost 1/2 due to ineffective assistance of counsel. Among those on death row, 62 % were represented by an attorney found to be ineffective in another capital case. “These were people too poor to afford their attorneys,” Krasner told The Appeal. “These attorneys did a dismal job.” These patterns are not unique to Philadelphia. Even though the Supreme Court has ruled that capital punishment must be limited to those “whose extreme culpability makes them the most deserving of execution,” and that it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute the insane, the intellectually disabled, and people under 18, people in the first 2 of those groups continue to be sentenced to death. Of those executed in 2017, 20 of the 23 men had one or more of the following impairments: significant evidence of mental illness; evidence of brain injury, developmental brain damage, or an IQ in the intellectually disabled range; serious childhood trauma, neglect, or abuse. Prosecutors also keep sending innocent people to be killed. “As of Oct. 17, 2017, 160 people have been exonerated from the nation’s death rows, and numerous executions have taken place despite strong evidence of innocence,” according to The Appeal. “According to one study, 1 out of every 25 people sentenced
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., TENN., COLO., ARIZ., ORE.
July 27 TEXAS: Like with Dallas' serial murder suspect, DAs seek death penalty when crimes are 'heinous enough' After Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot's decision this week to seek the death penalty for serial murder suspect Billy Chemirmir, current and former top prosecutors said Friday they know the emotional toll that came with that choice. Take former Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, who said Friday he has struggled with the death penalty even though as district attorney he sought it time and time again. His qualms about the ultimate punishment aren't just political. They're personal. His great-grandfather was executed by the state in 1932 for the murder of a Fort Worth man. But despite his personal ties, which he revealed the same week he witnessed an execution while in office, Watkins sent more defendants to death row than any other DA in the state during his tenure. Over two years, prosecutors say, Chemirmir charmed his way into the homes of elderly North Texans before smothering them, stealing their jewelry and selling it online and in pawn shops. He's suspected in 19 deaths in Dallas and Collin counties and has been indicted on capital murder charges in a dozen of those cases. Now, prosecutors say, he deserves to die. Choosing when to seek the death penalty is never easy, say other district attorneys who've had to weigh the evidence and make the call. It's a decision they don't take lightly. "That's the hard part of the job. Obviously, I was against the death penalty," Watkins said Friday. "But when something like that happens, you pretty much have to set your personal feelings aside." All about punishment Watkins said that dating back at least to his predecessor, Republican Bill Hill, there has been no doubt about guilt when Dallas County has sought the death penalty. The evidence, he said, has always been strong. While juries in Dallas County death penalty cases decide guilt, the true trial is all about punishment, he said. The question then, Watkins said, becomes whether a defendant deserves the ultimate punishment. Watkins said he always considered the actual crime and his personal beliefs when considering the appropriate punishment. “Those are the things you lose sleep over,” he said. "When you get there [in office] and you see it, you have to change.” DA Watkins questioned victim in death penalty trial Watkins, who earned a national reputation for freeing the innocent from prison while in office, said he was always concerned about unfairly seeking a death sentence against people of color. Watkins’ prosecutors sent at least 12 men to death row, including one whose case was retried, during his eight years in office. All but one were either black or Hispanic. Their victims were a baby and a toddler, an elderly store clerk, and a Southern Methodist University student raped and stabbed by a stranger. Fewer death penalty cases Nationally, use of the death penalty has dropped. 21 states have abolished capital punishment. During the 1st half of this year, 12 defendants in the United States were sentenced to death; none were in Texas. The Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that disseminates information about the death penalty, estimates that 2019 will be the 5th consecutive year with fewer than 50 new death sentences and fewer than 30 executions. Senior-living communities were Dallas serial killer's hunting grounds, families' lawsuits say Texas has executed more prisoners — 561 — than any other state since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976. So far this year, Texas has carried out 3 executions. 10 more are scheduled through early November, although appeals could cause delays. One reason for the drop in Texas executions is a September 2005 law that made defendants convicted of capital murder ineligible for parole if they didn’t receive a death sentence or if prosecutors didn’t seek one. The Dallas County district attorney's office filed a motion Tuesday to seek the death penalty against Billy Chemimir in the death of Lu Thi Harris, an 81-year-old woman whose body was found in her Dallas home after Chemirmir was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Watkins, who is now in private practice, has followed the Chemirmir case and said Creuzot is right to seek the death penalty. Watkins, like Creuzot, is a Democrat. “You have to make the hard decisions, and it looks like he did,” Watkins said. Attorney Trey Crawford represents many of the families who say their loved ones were killed by Chemirmir at The Tradition-Prestonwood, a posh North Dallas senior living complex. “If there is such a case deserving of the death penalty, this is certainly it,” Crawford said. “We are clearly dealing with an individual who has no regard for human life. Each of his victims and their families deserve justice.” Crawford said he
