Pakistan 'tops death row league'

Ray · 04-27-2007, 17:18 PM

Quote:

Pakistan 'tops death row league'

President Musharraf

Amnesty urged President Musharraf to ban executions

Pakistan has more people imprisoned facing execution than any other country in the world, human rights group Amnesty International says.

Nearly a third of the world's 24,000 death row prisoners are in Pakistan - "often held in extremely over-crowded conditions", Amnesty says.

Its annual report on the death penalty said the number of people executed in 2006 fell by 25%, compared with 2005.

But Pakistan was one of a few countries where executions rose sharply.

Pakistan's interior minister has dismissed any suggestion of abolishing the death penalty.

'Grim toll'

The Amnesty report said that at least 1,591 people had been executed in 25 countries last year, compared with 2,148 people in 2005.

Quote:

Capital punishment is always cruel and unnecessary and doesn't deter crime
Kate Allen,
Amnesty International

Death row man's freedom

It said the vast majority of those executed in 2006 were in China (1,010), followed by Iran (177), Pakistan (82), Iraq (65), Sudan (65) and the US (53).

The figure in Pakistan had nearly trebled from 31 the previous year, Amnesty said.

The group's UK Director, Kate Allen, said: "Last year saw a slight drop in execution numbers but it was another grim death toll around the world.

"We are particularly concerned about a disturbing 'revival' of executions in countries like Iraq, Sudan and Pakistan.

"We urgently need to see 'death penalty governments' issuing bans on all imminent executions, especially President Musharraf in Pakistan."

However, Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told the BBC: "We have our own laws, inherited from British times and they are applied very judiciously.

"We feel that the death sentence is a deterrent, without it maybe there would be more cases of serious crimes like murders."

Amnesty says 91% of all executions take place in the six countries listed above. Many are sentenced after torture and unfair trials, the group says.

Amnesty says that more than 7,200 people are on death row in Pakistan, a figure which was roughly similar six months ago.

But the sharp jump in numbers of people being executed makes this a particularly deadly combination, the group says.

It criticised death row conditions in Pakistan.

"In some cases 12 death row prisoners are reportedly being held in 4m-by-3m cells designed for one person," the group said.

It said wealthier convicts were often able to escape execution under laws which allow relatives of murder victims to accept compensation and pardon the offender.

Trend 'down'

Amnesty said its execution figures were "minimum only" and that countries like China killed far more people than official statistics showed.

Briton Mirza Tahir Hussain spent years on Pakistan's death row

But the report did note new safeguards in China meaning that all death sentences now had to be approved by China's Supreme People's Court.

And it said "the underlying global trend is towards less frequent usage and lower numbers of death sentences being imposed".

To date 128 countries had abolished the death penalty, with the Philippines the latest of 30 states to do so in the past 10 years.

"While 69 countries still retain the punishment less than half that number are currently carrying out executions," the report said.

Executions map 2006

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan 'tops death row league'

I saw the TV Report also.

Most Asian countries have not banned death penalties.

The Amnesty head Irene Khan stated that death penalty does not decrease crime.

What is your opinion.

1. Does death penalty act as a deterrent or not?

2. Should there be death penalty or not?

gunnut · 04-27-2007, 18:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray

I saw the TV Report also.

Most Asian countries have not banned death penalties.

The Amnesty head Irene Khan stated that death penalty does not decrease crime.

What is your opinion.

1. Does death penalty act as a deterrent or not?

2. Should there be death penalty or not?

Death penalty does not deter crime. Death penalty makes sure the crook never harms another human being again.

bonehead · 04-30-2007, 10:33 AM

The death penalty also keeps the prison guards a bit safer. With out it, what control does one really have against a lifer. If he kills a guard do we keep him behind bars a couple more years after he dies? It is good the prison population knows things can get worse for them if they get out of line. furthermore, those individuals who have proven themselves to be a grave danger to society should not have any opportunities to escape.

I am all for letting the accused getting a chance to prove his innocence and the state must dot all the I's and cross all the T's. Prosecutors and judges should be held responsible if they do anything not above board. These people should be greatly punished if they ever knowingly send an innocent man to the gallows. After the accused had his chance, found guilty by the jury and a sentence of death given because of his continued threat to society, his time on death row should be limited to a couple of years at the most, not the decades many have now.
The method should be the guillotine. It is cheap, effective and quick. If the criminals complain they only need to be reminded of what they have done to their victims which got the criminals to where they currently are.

Wraith601 · 05-01-2007, 23:49 PM

I support the death penalty fully, though I do see the need for reforms in the way it is administered and how it is sentenced. I am speaking solely from a US perspective though.

Debbie · 05-02-2007, 10:35 AM

Here is a deterrent to crime:

If a person steals - chop off hand
If a person kills - be killed by family of person in way they choose
If a person rapes - chop off or suture offending part

Less crime? Up the stakes as to the punishment. The death penalty is not harsh enough to deter crime.

pdf27 · 05-02-2007, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debbie

Less crime? Up the stakes as to the punishment. The death penalty is not harsh enough to deter crime.

Problem is that it appears that most criminals aren't smart enough to think through the likely results of their crimes. I'm thinking of cases like that guy in California (?) who got a life sentence for stealing some pizza - he wasn't bright enough to think through what would happen if he committed that crime, and so did it anyway. Given that (viewed from the perspective of someone deciding whether or not to steal a pizza) life imprisonment is an extraordinarily harsh punishment, it appears that for at least a large fraction of the criminal fraternity the harshness of a punishment is not that great a deterrent.

entropy · 05-02-2007, 14:03 PM

Deterrent isn't.

ChrisF202 · 05-05-2007, 14:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debbie

Here is a deterrent to crime:

If a person steals - chop off hand
If a person kills - be killed by family of person in way they choose
If a person rapes - chop off or suture offending part

Less crime? Up the stakes as to the punishment. The death penalty is not harsh enough to deter crime.

I like that ... isent that the basis of Shira law though?

globaltracker · 05-05-2007, 23:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debbie

Here is a deterrent to crime:

If a person steals - chop off hand
If a person kills - be killed by family of person in way they choose
If a person rapes - chop off or suture offending part

Less crime? Up the stakes as to the punishment. The death penalty is not harsh enough to deter crime.

What would be the scenario if the proposed punishments by you is implemented in a framed up cases, it's not that uncommon. Women frame men in almost any part of the world for molestation for past grudge or something. Can you give him back his hand/head/suture offending part. So i don't agree with this sort of crime preventions.
cheers

Tiger · 05-06-2007, 00:59 AM

That would be sad if a hand was chopped off in a framed up case.

Then that hand should embalmed and be kept in a frame and hung in the Judge's chamber to remind him of his miscarriage of justice!

JAD_333 · 05-06-2007, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunnut

Death penalty does not deter crime. Death penalty makes sure the crook never harms another human being again.

Valid point. It's a punishment first, a deterrent last.

Archer · 05-06-2007, 21:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debbie

Here is a deterrent to crime:

If a person steals - chop off hand
If a person kills - be killed by family of person in way they choose
If a person rapes - chop off or suture offending part

Less crime? Up the stakes as to the punishment. The death penalty is not harsh enough to deter crime.

Debbie, you'd fit right in with the good folks in Saudi Arabia! Sure you dont wanna try.

gunnut · 05-06-2007, 23:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAD_333

Valid point. It's a punishment first, a deterrent last.

I would argue it isn't even a punishment. It's a public safety precaution. Here's a defective product (crook). Send it back to the manufacturer so it doesn't linger around to cause more damage.

JAD_333 · 05-06-2007, 23:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunnut

I would argue it isn't even a punishment. It's a public safety precaution. Here's a defective product (crook). Send it back to the manufacturer so it doesn't linger around to cause more damage.

Call it a tie. Getting the criminal off the street is one objective of prison and returning him reformed is another. If incarceration was purely a matter of public safety, criminals would never be released.

However, public safety seems uppermost when the sentence is life or death. Reform is hardly relevent to criminals who have no prospect of release.

05-01-2007, 23:49 PM	#4 (permalink)
Wraith601 Title Classified *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 11-23-04 Location: Mississippi Posts: 1,144 Country:	I support the death penalty fully, though I do see the need for reforms in the way it is administered and how it is sentenced. I am speaking solely from a US perspective though. __________________ "We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be, detested in France." -Sir Arthur Wellesley

05-02-2007, 14:03 PM	#7 (permalink)
entropy Senior Reader *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 03-19-07 Location: Belgium Posts: 1,628 Country:	Deterrent isn't. __________________ If memory serves...

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04-30-2007, 10:33 AM	#3 (permalink)
bonehead *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 01-12-05 Posts: 1,913	The death penalty also keeps the prison guards a bit safer. With out it, what control does one really have against a lifer. If he kills a guard do we keep him behind bars a couple more years after he dies? It is good the prison population knows things can get worse for them if they get out of line. furthermore, those individuals who have proven themselves to be a grave danger to society should not have any opportunities to escape. I am all for letting the accused getting a chance to prove his innocence and the state must dot all the I's and cross all the T's. Prosecutors and judges should be held responsible if they do anything not above board. These people should be greatly punished if they ever knowingly send an innocent man to the gallows. After the accused had his chance, found guilty by the jury and a sentence of death given because of his continued threat to society, his time on death row should be limited to a couple of years at the most, not the decades many have now. The method should be the guillotine. It is cheap, effective and quick. If the criminals complain they only need to be reminded of what they have done to their victims which got the criminals to where they currently are.

05-02-2007, 10:35 AM	#5 (permalink)
Debbie WAB Cautioner of Poo *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 11-20-06 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 3,457 Country:	Here is a deterrent to crime: If a person steals - chop off hand If a person kills - be killed by family of person in way they choose If a person rapes - chop off or suture offending part Less crime? Up the stakes as to the punishment. The death penalty is not harsh enough to deter crime.

05-06-2007, 00:59 AM	#10 (permalink)
Tiger Banished Join Date: 05-05-07 Posts: 17	That would be sad if a hand was chopped off in a framed up case. Then that hand should embalmed and be kept in a frame and hung in the Judge's chamber to remind him of his miscarriage of justice!

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