United Nations panel votes for worldwide ban of the Death Penalty

[Matariki]

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN623979.html

A U.N. committee voted on Thursday in favor of a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty in a key step toward the passing of the nonbinding motion by the world body.

The resolution, which calls for "a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty," was passed 99-52 with 33 abstentions. It is likely to go to the full 192-member assembly in mid-December where supporters say they expect few countries to change their position.

"Although the resolution is not legally binding on states, it carries considerable moral and political weight," Amnesty International said in a statement.

China, Iran, Iraq, the United States, Pakistan and Sudan account for about 90 percent of all executions worldwide.

The US was among the countries to vote against it.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

1. If apartheid South Africa could do it...

I would really like to believe we will come around on this, and they hanged 120 people a year until hangings were suspended in 1989 and never resumed.

[Matariki]

2. I really wonder why the US is so murder happy.

And look at the company we're in - China, Iran, Iraq. A real bunch of Human Rights superstars.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. its da will-ah of da laaawd

it uz wrutten in da buuk uh luv-it-i-cush

[IronLionZion]

11. Because our Republicans are pro-life

we have a culture of life in this country. If you value human life, it's important to kill as many people as possible through death penalty, war, floods and other natural disasters, terrorist attacks, bridges collapsing, poverty, lack of health care, etc. Death is life.

:puke:

[Selatius]

13. Because our culture emphasizes seeking pleasure and quick solutions.

Seeking revenge feels very good, so of course, people want the man in prison to fry. Not very Jesus-like in my opinion, since so many claim to listen to His words.

[MetaTrope]

29. The votes

In favour: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela.

Against: Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, China, Comoros, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Grenada, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United States, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

Abstain: Belarus, Bhutan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cuba, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Morocco, Nauru, Niger, Palau, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Swaziland, Togo, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Viet Nam, Zambia.

Absent:: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Kiribati, Peru, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, Tunisia.

[bonito]

3. K&R

[EFerrari]

4. K&R

This is very encouraging.

[Matariki]

6. The ACLU has a very well reasoned article listing many reasons against the death penalty

worth reading: http://www.aclu.org/capital/general/10441pub19971231.html#incarceration

[Matariki]

7. A society that respects life does not deliberately kill human beings.

An execution is a violent public spectacle of official homicide, and one that endorses killing to solve social problems - the worst possible example to set for the citizenry. Governments worldwide have often attempted to justify their lethal fury by extolling the purported benefits that such killing would bring to the rest of society. The benefits of capital punishment are illusory, but the bloodshed and the resulting destruction of community decency are real.

(from the ACLU site)

[mahina]

8. I am strongly in favor of the death penalty.

When the dna matches, and there is certainty about guilt, there are some crimes that deserve the death penalty.

When we send the convicts to jail knowing they are going to be murdered by their fellow convicts, we are not being honest about it. We know damn well what's going to happen. It's murder by proxy. We should just face it and do it ourselves. The man who raped and murdered six year old little Maile went to prison and suffered horribly for years before he was murdered. I'm not sorry he suffered but it's not any better than putting him to death ourselves.

If you have not personally lost family or friends, please do not tell me how barbaric the death penalty is. If you have lost friends or family and you can forgive, God bless you, but I can't.


http://www.honolulupd.org/community/maile.htm

[Disturbed]

9. China, Iran, Iraq, the United States, Pakistan and Sudan

won't stop executing.

At risk prisoners can be placed with others that are at risk so they won't be tortured &/or killed by the ones in the general population.

[Solon]

10. You are making a false assumption that there are two standards for proof in criminal cases...

That simply isn't the case. Plenty of people have been sentenced to death on circumstantial evidence, and the only standard of evidence in criminal court is proving they are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a subjective, and generally an arbitrary standard to begin with.

Until such time that we can absolutely guarantee that not one innocent person would be put to death in death penalty cases, it should be banned outright.

[Matariki]

12. In many ways, life in prison seems like a more severe punishment.

And death the easy way out. I'd rather see someone have to spend the rest of their lives CONTEMPLATING their wrong doing.

And then there's still also a certain amount of error with dna testing, largely due to sloppy lab practices.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/183007_crimelab22.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/27/60II/main555723.shtml
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dna+testing+problems+OR+errors&btnG=Search

This blood thirsty 'eye for an eye' thing is really barbarous. People having what amounts to tail gate parties when sn execution happens, like crowds at a hanging in the bad old days. Mob mentality divorced from reason. It speaks to an uncivilized violence in our society that is part of the problem.

[mahina]

18. But when they spend their time in prison being beaten nearly to death

daily, and raped, and the whole community knows it will happen, isn't that worse?

This is a small community. A family friend was the doctor in prison. He kept patching this guy up for years, and he was basically tortured for the entire time he survived in prison. Not a good end.

[Matariki]

19. No, of course that's not good

Our whole prison system needs to be reformed. Starting with an end to privatization.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. I've lost family members.

But I still think the death penalty is as full of shit as the argument that one's need to have lost a family member to have a valid opinoin.

[mahina]

17. I'm not saying anything about anyone else having a valid opinion or not,

just if you haven't lost someone to a murderer, I don't want to hear you tell me it's wrong to put the criminal to death. Think what you want. I just don't care to hear it.

Maile was six years old. She was a sweet beautiful little girl. She was raped and murdered.

Her killer deserved to be put to death.

[Matariki]

20. Did you know her personally?

I think it's normal for relatives and friends of a murder victim to want to visit the worst sort of revenge on the murderer. Which is exactly why the family can't have a say in the punishment.

Killing the murderer doesn't bring back the murdered. And it doesn't deter future murders. So what *does* it do? Sates blood-lust and anger? Does the anger go away when the person is executed?

[mahina]

21. Yes, and it's about justice.

The worst sort of revenge would have been taking comfort that he was being tortured. That made it worse, for me anyway.

How could it not deter future murders?

[Matariki]

25. Lots of studies indicate that the death penalty doesn't deter murder

cited at the ACLU site for instance. The murder rate isn't higher in countries that have abolished the death penalty.

I can completely understand a deep desire for revenge on the personal level. Were someone to murder a person I love I'm POSITIVE I would have those feelings. But it's possible to have those feelings and still think it's not wise to act on them, believing that capital punishment is detrimental to society as a whole.

[Matariki]

26. btw. I'm sorry about your loss. It must be terrible.

[mahina]

28. Nothing compared to what her Mom and Dad and brothers and sisters went through

and still do to this day.

It's been interesting talking with you, thanks for sharing your point of view. There's a hole in all our hearts from this that time has not healed.

[JerseygirlCT]

14. Excellent. nt

[flashl]

15. Not in my Name! n/t

[spanone]

22. K&R

so we (bu$hco) voted against it.......life is sacred if you're a fetus, otherwise you're screwn

[DemGa]

23. Executions are not a progressive value

Damn, evolution is slow!

[magellan]

24. That's real good company we're keeping

"China, Iran, Iraq, the United States, Pakistan and Sudan account for about 90 percent of all executions worldwide."

Flanked by countries we like to think we're "better than". Shameful. Why isn't Americans learning? (sic)

[Matariki]

27. It's interesting that many of those countries are very tribal or clan based

where revenge killings bounce back and forth for generations. Probably has something to do with it.