10 Quotes Against the Death Penalty

Ideas opposing the death penalty….

1)     Concerning the claim of justice for the victim’s family, I say there is no amount of retaliatory deaths that would compensate to me the inestimable value of my daughter’s life, nor would they restore her to my arms. To say that the death of any other person would be just retribution is to insult the immeasurable worth of our loved ones who are victims. We cannot put a price on their lives. That kind of justice would only dehumanize and degrade us because it legitimates an animal instinct for gut-level blood thirsty revenge…. In my case, my own daughter was such a gift of joy and sweetness and beauty, that to kill someone in her name would have been to violate and profane the goodness of her life; the idea is offensive and repulsive to me.

Marietta Jaeger, whose 7 year-old daughter Susie was kidnapped and murdered in the US in 1973.

2)     Can the state, which represents the whole of society and has the duty of protecting society, fulfill that duty by lowering itself to the level of the murderer, and treating him as he treated others? The forfeiture of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict it on another, even when backed by legal process. And I believe that future generations, throughout the world, will come to agree.

Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat and Secretary General of the United Nations 1997 -2007.

3)     Judicial execution can never cancel or remove the atrocity it seeks to punish; it can only add a second atrocity to the original one… So long as one sees killing as wrong there is no need to waste time with the deterrent argument, since it would be nonsense to try to prevent a theoretical evil in the future by perpetrating an actual one in the present.

Auberon Waugh, 20^th Century British author & journalist

4)     The death penalty is wrong. It is inhuman. It is degrading. It is an atavist relict of a pre-civilized past in which justice was dispensed with a sword, to avenge, never to prevent. To kill, not to heal. The death penalty does not deter violence. It perpetuates it. It does not do justice, it denies it. The death penalty violates human rights, in a ruthless, absolute and irreversible manner.

Lord Russell-Johnston, British President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 2001

5)     There is a very broad theory that society gets the right to hang, as the individual gets the right to defend himself. Suppose she does; there are certain principles which limit this right. Society has got the murderer within four walls; he never can do any more harm. Has society any need to take that man’s life to protect itself? If any society has only the right that the individual has, she has no right to inflict the penalty of death, because she can effectually restrain the individual from ever again committing his offence.

Wendell Phillips, 19^th Century US lawyer & politician

6)     People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty … I have yet to see a death case among the dozens coming to the Supreme Court, on eve-of-execution stay applications, in which the defendant was well represented at trial.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice 2001

7)     From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death. For more than 20 years I have endeavored…to develop…rules that would lend more than the mere appearance of fairness to the death penalty endeavor…Rather than continue to coddle the court’s delusion that the desired level of fairness has been achieved…I feel…obligated simply to concede that the death penalty experiment has failed

Justice Blackmun, Supreme Court Justice quoted in1994

8)     Nothing would be lost if death penalty statutes were repealed… The process is so fatally flawed that the only solution lies in abolishing capital punishment. Most nations with which we share a common heritage have already taken this step. The relatives of the victim have the right to demand swift and sure punishment, but they do not have the right to demand death when the process is so severely flawed.

Charles B Blackmar, former senior judge of Missouri’s Supreme Court 2003

9)     With every cell of my being, and with every fiber of my memory, I oppose the death penalty in all forms….I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don’t think it’s human to become an Angel of Death.

Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1986

10)  Those resources could be spent in better ways if death eligible killers were sentenced to life without parole. Law enforcement programs that work might have prevented the tragedies we suffered at only a fraction of the cost. A legal system free from the resource drain of the capital punishment system could find, prosecute, and sentence countless other criminals and even take dangerous people of the streets before they commit murder.

An extract taken from a letter sent to Montana House of Representatives signed by 35 families of murder victims seeking for the death penalty to be replaced by life without parole. March 2009.

10 Stats on the DP

10 Quotes in Support of Capital Punishment

Some ideas put forward in support of the death penalty both recent and historic…

1. While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes–mass murder, the rape and murder of a child so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment. On the other hand, the way capital cases were tried in Illinois at the time was so rife with error, questionable police tactics, racial bias, and shoddy lawyering, that 13 death row inmates had been exonerated

Barack Obama President US 2009 to date – The Audacity of Hope 2006

2. If an offender has committed murder, he must die. In this case, no possible substitute can satisfy justice. For there is no parallel between death and even the most miserable life, so that there is no equality of crime and retribution unless the perpetrator is judicially put to death.

Immanuel Kant, 18^th Century German philosopher.

3.  All grandeur, all power, and all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears.

Joseph De Maistre, 19^th Century French diplomat & philosopher.

4.  Personally have always voted for the death penalty because I believe that people who go out prepared to take the lives of other people forfeit their own right to live. I believe that that death penalty should be used only very rarely, but I believe that no-one should go out certain that no matter how cruel, how vicious, how hideous their murder, they themselves will not suffer the death penalty.

Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister UK 1979 -1990

5.  If we execute murderers and there is in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call…..All over the country news stories bemoan and hype the countdown to execution number 1000, but where are the stories regarding the ripple effect of the heinous crimes that these murderers were executed for committing?

John C McAdams, 2009 associate Professor of Political Science. Marquette University US.

6.  If Capital Punishment is state sponsored murder, then any lesser punishment is a state sponsored murder of Justice…. It is Justice, not Laws that cures the society. And Capital Punishment is the only Justice that suits a murderer.

Saqib Ali, Democrat State Delegate, Maryland, 2006 to date

7.  I have also seen it stated that Capital punishment is murder in its worst form. I should like to know upon what principle of human society these assertions are based and justified.

Benjamin Tucker, a leading proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century.

8.  In the New Testament God directs the government to strike the criminal with terror, wrath and vengeance without mercy. Watch in amazement as you see that Jesus commanded the death penalty! And the Apostle Paul said he did not object to capital punishment. Then see other Bible characters directly affirm the death penalty.

Bob Enyart, US Pastor promoting his DVD God and the Death Penalty. 2009

9.  I think capital punishment works great. Every killer you kill never kills again.

Bill Mayer, TV host, standup comedian and political commentator.

10. The American people have determined that the good to be derived from capital punishment in deterrence and perhaps most of all in the meting out of condign justice for horrible crimes — outweighs the risk of error. It is no proper part of the business of this court, or of its justices, to second-guess that judgment, much less to impugn it before the world …

A single case—not one—in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent’s name would be shouted from the rooftops.

Antonin Scalia, US Supreme Court Justice, 2006 Scalia regarding questions of uncertainty about innocent people being sentenced to death by the modern judicial system.

10 Stats on the Death Penalty

10 Apt Names?

10 Medical Profession Aptronyms [Apt-Names]

An aptronym or ‘apt-name’ is a name that fits some aspect of a person whether it’s their occupation or personality. This is also referred to as nominative determinism – the idea that there may be a subconscious compulsion to take up a profession or characteristic linked to your name. The Romans called it ‘nomen est omen’ – your name tells your future.

The New Scientist and its readers have considered the matter many times and provided hundreds of examples including:-

A paper on incontinence written by JW Splatt and D Weedon. Director of penal reform Frances Crook….. Senior researcher for children in foster care Patrick Fagan…. Chief police officers spokesman on knife crime, Alf Hitchcock…. Not so popular UK education minister Ed Balls….. FDA drug certification director of viagra Janet Woodcock …ex Royal Bank of Scotland boss getting a 16 million payoff despite the bank’s collapse, Sir Fred Goodwin.

Psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote “Are these whimsicalities of chance….or are they meaningful coincidences?”

Who knows but there does also seems to be a kind of anti–aptronym whereby really the name could not be more unfortunate e.g. Dr Burns-Cox a UK consultant urologist & Mr Penaisbreath in Australia, both absolutely true – as are apparently the ones below…

1. Anesthetists:

Dr Mistry – Dr Ether – Dr Comfort – Dr Knapp

1. Dermatologists:

Dr Spot – Dr Rash – Dr Skinner – Dr Whitehead

1. Obstetrics & Gynecology:

Dr Wiwi – Dr Beavers – Dr Ono – Dr Vulva – Dr Bush – Dr Kuntz – Dr Love – Dr Storck – Dr Hatch – Dr Heinie – Dr Lipps – Dr Bonnie Beaver – Dr Fingers

1. Ophthalmologist:

Dr See Wong – Dr Steven I Ball – Dr Kevin Blinder

1. Orthodontist:

Dr Randall Toothaker – Dr Fillmore – Dr Ken Hurt – Dr Puller – Dr Yankum – Dr Les Plack – Dr De Kay – Dr Nasti – Dr Eke  – Dr Au [pronounced Ow] – Dr Tom Fillar

1. Psychiatrists:

Dr Strange – Dr Dippy – Dr Moodie – Dr Nutter – Dr Bummer – Dr Looney – Dr Quirk – Dr William Dement – Dr Jules Angst

1. Pediatricians:

Dr Donald Duckles – Dr Tickles – Dr Kidd – Dr Jelley – Dr Elfman – Dr Bunny – Dr Babey

1. Neurologist:

Dr Russell Brain – Dr Henry Head

1. Surgeons:

Dr Mes – Dr Rush – Dr Hackman – Dr Kutteroff –  Dr Slaughter- Dr Mallett – Dr Truluck – Dr Gore – Dr Payne – Dr Risk – Dr Fear – Dr Yell – Dr Savage – Dr Killam – Dr Graves – Dr Stopp [vasectomy specialist] Dr Feinmesser

10.  Urologists / proctologists:

Dr Weiner – Dr Richard [Dick] Finder – Dr Richard Chopp – Dr Richard Tapper – Dr Slocum – Dr Gehrkin –  Dr Whang – Dr Cockburn – Dr Dickoff  – Dr Blank & Dr Seed [fertility specialists] Dr Ima Assman – Dr Hardman – Dr John Thomas – Dr Pokemon

Dr Nicholas Burns-Cox

Source: wordsmith.org u.arizona.edu / maxfaxgp.blogspot.com / slate.msn.com en.wikipedia.org / science-frontiers.com / anorak.co.uk

10 Stats on the Death Penalty – Worldwide

10^th October 2009 is the annual ‘World Day Against the Death Penalty.’

It’s a hot topic of debate around the world both with staunch supporters for and strong opposition against. The number of countries currently supporting the death sentence is below 25% and appears to be falling. China has by far the largest figures for execution but the exact number is considered a state secret, this being a familiar trend – although some countries are transparent most are not. Information therefore with regards to exact statistics is unknown and estimates can only be gained in an unofficial capacity some more reliable than others – inside reports from families, witnesses, government mediators and informers, lawyers, victims, various political and medical documents, publications, news and social media phone cameras internet sites and so on. Where the number of executions is unofficial a minimum figure has been used with a + sign. The figures used here are from amnesty.org and handsoffcain.org

1)    Of the world’s population over 60% live in a country with Capital Punishment

2)    In 2008, 26 countries carried out between an estimated 2,393+ executions.

3)    The 5 countries with the highest execution rate and making up 94% of all executions  in 2008 were

• China 1,718+
• Iran 346+
• Saudi Arabia 102+
• USA 37
• Pakistan 36+

4)    The methods of execution currently in use are: Beheading – Electrocution – Hanging – Gas Chamber – Stoning – Firing Squad – Shooting – Lethal Injection

Methods of execution the process and who authorizes their use.

5)    With regards to the use of the death penalty countries & territories are categorized into 4 groups:

• Abolitionist for all crimes – no death penalty by law applies in 95 countries. See List
• Abolitionist for ordinary crimes – the death penalty may only be considered in exceptional cases applies to 10 countries. See List
• Abolitionist in practice also known as ‘de facto abolitionist’ – the death penalty is retained in law but no executions have been carried out in the past 10 years, applicable in 35 countries. See List
• Retentionist – the death penalty is practiced as part of common law and applied in 45 countries. See List

6)    Of the 45 retentionist countries 36 are dictatorial, authoritarian or illiberal states. Of the 10 remaining all are considered liberal democracies including the 6 who carried out executions in 2008 – USA, Japan, Indonesia, Botswana, St Kitts & Nevis and Mongolia.

7)    Some of the most recent moves towards the abolition of capital punishment have been:

• Japan – on Sept 17, 2009 Capital Punishment was effectively suspended by the newly appointed Minister of Justice Keiko Chiba.
• Kenya – Aug 03, 09 President Mwai Kibaki commuted all 4000 death sentences in the country to life in prison.
• Uganda – in January 09 Uganda ruled that all death sentences should be commuted to life.
• Lagos – Aug 09 commuted all death sentences to life.
• Countries that abolished the death penalty in 2009 Burundi, Kazakhstan and Togo

8)    Some recent moves away from abolition:

• St Kitts & Nevis did not carry out any executions for 10 years prior to 2008.
• Thailand had not executed anyone for 6 years until Aug 24, 2009.

9)    After the handover from British rule to the People’s Republic of China in 1997 Hong Kong & Macau maintained their own legal systems which do not support the death penalty

10) The only country to carry out Capital Punishment in Europe is Belarus they consider the number of executions to be a state secret but it is known that at least 4 were carried out in 2008. The condemned are shot in the back of the head, no information is given to the prisoner or families with regards to the date of the killing – families are informed afterwards to collect belongings and the whereabouts of the bodies remains confidential to officials.

Chart showing all Retentionist countries and executions carried out in 2008 + population figures.

Chart showing retentionist countries last execution.

see also quotes in support of DP and quotes against the DP

Sources: reprieve.org.uk  stopchildexecutions.com  Wikipedia.org  Geography.about.com  stop-stoning.com  deathpenaltyinfo.org

List of Abolitionists Countries

The following 95 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes.

This list is by continent for ease of reference and each country has the year of abolition next to their name.

AFRICA [15]

Angola 92, Burundi 09, Cape Verdi 81, Cote d’Ivoire 00, Djibouti 95, Guinea-Bissau 93, Mauritius 95, Mozambique 90, Namibia 90,Rwanda 07, Sao Tome & Principe 90, Senegal 04, Seychelles 93, South Africa 95, Togo 09.

ASIA [10] – Armenia 03, Azerbaijan 98, Bhutan 04, Cambodia 89, Georgia 06, Nepal 97, Philippines 06, Timor-Leste [East Timor] 99,Turkmenistan 99, Uzbekistan 08.

EUROPE [43] – Albania 07, Andorra 90, Austria 68, Belgium 96, Bosnia & Herzegovina 95, Bulgaria, 98, Croatia 90, Cyprus 02, Czech Republic 90, Denmark 78, Estonia 98, Finland 49, France 81, Germany 87, Greece 01, Hungary 90, Iceland 28, Ireland 90, Italy 94, Liechtenstein 87, Lithuania 98, Luxemburg 79, Macedonia 91, Malta 00, Moldova 95, Monaco 62, Montenegro 95, Netherlands 82, Norway 79, Poland 97, Portugal 1867, Romania 90, San Merino 1865, Serbia 95 + Kosovo, Slovakia 90, Slovenia 89, Spain 95, Sweden 72, Switzerland 92, Turkey 04, Ukraine 00, United Kingdom 03, Vatican City [Holy See – not in UN] 69

NORTH AMERICA  [9] – Bermuda 00, Canada 98, Costa Rica 1877, Dominican Republic 66, Haiti 87, Honduras 56, Mexico 05, Nicaragua 79, Panama 03,

SOUTH AMERICA [6] – Argentina 84, Columbia 91, Ecuador 06, Paraguay 92, Uruguay 07, Venezuela 63.

OCEANIA [12] – Australia 85, Cook Islands 07, Kiribati 79, Marshall Islands 86, Micronesia 86, New Zealand 89, Palau 94, Samoa 04, Solomon Islands 78,Tuvalu 78, Vanuatu 80. [Niue not in UN]

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Abolitionist for ordinary crimes

The death penalty may only be considered in exceptional cases applies to 10 countries.

ASIA [3] – Israel 54, Kazakhstan 09, Kyrgyzstan 07,

Europe – Latvia 99

North America – El Salvador 83

Oceania – Fiji 79

South America [4] – Bolivia 97, Brazil 78, Chile 01, Peru 79

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Abolitionist in practice

List of ‘de facto’ countries

AFRICA [22] – Algeria 93, Benin 87, Burkina Faso 88,Cameroon 97, Central African Republic 81, Republic of Congo 82, Eritrea 89, Gabon 81, Gambia 81, Ghana 93, Kenya 87, Liberia 95, Madagascar 58, Malawi 92, Mali 80, Mauritania 87, Morocco 93, Niger 76 Swaziland 83,Tanzania 94, Tunisia 91, Zambia 97.

ASIA [7] – Brunei 57, Laos 89 Maldives 52, Myanmar [Burma] 93 South Korea 97, Sri Lanka 76, Tajikistan 04

NORTH AMERICA [1] – Grenada 78,

SOUTH AMERICA [1] – Suriname 87

OCEANIA [3] – Nauru 68, Papua New Guinea 54, Tonga 82.

EUROPE [1] – Russian Federation 97.

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List of retentionist countries

The death penalty is retained in 45 countries out of the 192 that are in the UN.

AFRICA [16] – Botswana 08, Comoros 97, Democratic Republic of Congo 03, Chad 03, Egypt 08, Equatorial Guinea 07, Ethiopia 07, Guinea 01, Lesotho 84, Libya 08, Nigeria 02,  Sierra Leone 98, Somalia 08, Sudan 09, Uganda 03, Zimbabwe 03.

ASIA [27] – Afghanistan 08, Bahrain 08, Bangladesh 09, China 09, India 04, Indonesia 08, Iran 09, Iraq 08, Japan 09, Jordan 05, North Korea 08, Kuwait 07, Lebanon 04, Malaysia 08, Mongolia 08, Oman 01, Pakistan 08, Palestinian Authority 05 [not in UN], Qatar 01, Saudi Arabia 09, Singapore 09, Syria 08, Taiwan 05, Thailand 09, United Arab Emirates 08, Vietnam 09, Yemen 09.

EUROPE [1] – Belarus 08

NORTH AMERICA [13] – Antigua & Barbuda 91, Bahamas 00, Barbados 84,Belize 85, Cuba 03, Dominica 86, Guatemala 00, Jamaica 88, Saint Kitts & Nevis 08, Saint Lucia 95, Saint Vincent & Grenadines 95, Trinidad & Tobago 99, United States 09.

SOUTH AMERICA [1] – Guyana 97

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Retentionist countries and executions 2008

Population	Countries that executed in 2008	Number of known executions	Death Sentences in 2008
	Asia
28,150,000	Afghanistan	17+	131
791,000	Bahrain	1	–
162,221,000	Bangladesh	5	185+
1,333,140,000	China	1,718+	7003+
229,965,000	Indonesia	10	10+
74,196,000	Iran	346+	+
30,747,000	Iraq	34+	285+
127,590,000	Japan	15	27
27,468,000	Malaysia	1+	22+
2,671,000	Mongolia	1+	–
24,051,706	North Korea	15+	+
167,514,500	Pakistan	36+	236+
25,721,000	Saudi Arabia	102+	+
4,839,400	Singapore	1+	5
21,906,000	Syria	1+	7+
4,599,000	United Arab Emirates	1+	–
85,789,573	Vietnam	19+	59+
23,580,000	Yemen	13+	+
TOTAL – 2,374,940,179		TOTAL – 2,336	TOTAL – 7,970
	Africa
1,950,000	Botswana	1	4
77,226,737	Egypt	2+	87+
6,420,000	Libya	8	+
9,133,000	Somalia	3+	–
42,272,000	Sudan	1+	60
TOTAL -137,001,737		TOTAL – 15	TOTAL – 151
	Americas
52,000	St Kitts & Nevis	1	1+
307,465,000	United States of America	37	111+
TOTAL – 307,517,000		TOTAL – 38	TOTAL – 112
	Europe
TOTAL –  9,671,900	Belarus	TOTAL – 4	TOTAL – 1
Total of Collective Population 2,829,130,816	TOTAL – 26 Countries 2,393 executions 8,234 death sentences

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Retentionist Countries – Last Execution

Population	Countries with no executions in 2008	Last known  execution	Death sentences imposed in 2008
	Asia
1,169,340,000	India	2004	70+
6,316,000	Jordan	2005	14+
4,224,000	Lebanon	2004
2,985,000	Kuwait	2007	6+
2,845,000	Oman	2001
[est:3.9million]	Palestinian Authority	2005
1,409,000	Qatar	2001
23,069,345	Taiwan	2005	8+
67,764,730	Thailand	2002 – 2009	3
TOTAL 1,277,953,075
	Africa
11,206,000	Chad	2003	12+
66,020,000	Democratic Rep of Congo	2003	50+
79,277,000	Ethiopia	2007	39
676,000	Equatorial Guinea	2007	3
10,069,000	Guinea	2001
154,729,000	Nigeria	2002	40+
32,710,000	Uganda	1999/2003	114
12,523,000	Zimbabwe	2003
TOTAL – 367,210,000
	Americas
342,000	Bahamas	2000	1+
11,204,000	Cuba	2003
14,027,000	Guatemala	2000/2007
TOTAL – 25,573,000			TOTAL – 360
Total of Collective Population 1,670,736,075

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