Death for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

The death penalty as punishment for his role in the Boston Marathon bombings of April 2013 was always on the cards for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev once his case was put in the hands of a federal court. Massachusetts, the state where Tsarnaev and his older brother made their fatal attack on the famous marathon run, does not allow the death penalty. But federal law does – and 60 percent of Americans, according to a CBS poll, support this fate for the young murderer.

Is the federal jury’s decision the most just and reasonable response to a horrendous crime? Or have they missed an opportunity to deal a decisive blow to a kind of justice that Americans are increasingly rejecting as inhumane and unnecessary? After all, if the crime of a would-be mass murderer could be adequately punished in another way, there would no reason to execute anyone else.

There is no question that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev planned lethal harm to many people and executed their plan in cold blood, killing three people and injuring more than 260 at the event. They also shot a policeman, and another policeman died during the pursuit of the bombers, as did Tamerlan himself. Theirs was a terrible crime and deserves a heavy punishment – something that America’s toughest jails are, from all accounts, well able to provide.

Read it all here.

N. Korea to execute 33

North Korea has ordered the death of as many as 33 people because of their alleged contact with a missionary, South Korea’s largest news organization has reported.

The 33 North Koreans are charged with attempting to overthrow the regime by setting up 500 underground churches, according to the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, which cited an unnamed source. The newspaper said they are accused of working with Kim Jung-wook, a South Korean arrested by North Korean authorities in October on suspicion of trying to establish underground churches.

The executions will be carried out in a secret location administered by the State Security Department, Chosun Ilbo reported.

Kim, a Baptist missionary, appeared on North Korean television on Feb. 27 and said he was working at the direction of the South Korean National Intelligence Service, and that his goal was the collapse of the Pyongyang regime. It’s unknown whether Kim’s TV appearance will earn his release.

Read it all here.

Oregon Governor Bans Executions

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber on Tuesday banned the death penalty in his state for the duration of his term, the Associated Press reports.

Clearly emotional and fighting back tears at points during his address in Salem, the Democratic governor called the state’s death scheme "an expensive and unworkable system that fails to meet basic standards of justice." He announced he would issue a stay for 37 inmates, including 49-year-old Gary Haugen who had waived his appeals and was scheduled to be executed early next month.

Read it all here.

Mumbai Killer's Execution Delayed

NEW DELHI, Oct 10: India’s Supreme Court on Monday stayed the death sentence handed down to the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, pending an appeal hearing.

“This case has to be heard on top priority,” Judge Aftab Alam told the court. “It is the demand of the judicial system that we have to hear this appeal.” Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai for nearly three days killing 166 people, was convicted in May 2010.

Kasab was found guilty of a string of crimes, including waging war against India, murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts, after a trial at a maximum security prison court in Mumbai.

The first appeal by the 23-year-old from a poor farming area in the Punjab province failed in February, when the state high court in Mumbai confirmed both his conviction and death sentence.

India reserves executions, which are carried out by hanging, for the “rarest of the rare” offences.—AFP

Woman Hanged in Iran

TEHRAN, Jan 29: Iran on Saturday hanged an Iranian-Dutch woman for drug smuggling after initially arresting her for anti-government protests, the Tehran prosecutor`s office said.

Zahra Bahrami`s execution takes the total number of people hanged in Iran so far this year to 66, according to a tally based on media reports.

The Netherlands summoned Iran`s ambassador in the wake of the hanging, the Dutch foreign ministry said.

“A drug trafficker named Zahra Bahrami, daughter of Ali, was hanged early on Saturday morning after she was convicted of selling and possessing drugs,” the prosecutor`s office said.

Bahrami, a 46-year-old Iranian-born naturalised Dutch citizen, was reportedly arrested in December 2009 after joining a protest against the government while visiting relatives in the Islamic republic.The prosecutor`s office confirmed on Saturday that she had been arrested for “security crimes”. But elaborating on the drug smuggling charge, the office said Bahrami had used her Dutch connections to smuggle narcotics into Iran.

“The convict, a member of an international drug gang, smuggled cocaine to Iran using her Dutch connections and had twice shipped and distributed cocaine inside the country,” it said.

During a search of her house, authorities found 450 grams of cocaine and 420 grams of opium, the prosecutor`s office said, adding that investigations revealed she had sold 150 grams of cocaine in Iran.

“The revolutionary court sentenced her to death for possessing 450 grams of cocaine and participating in the selling of 150 grams of cocaine,” it said.

The Netherlands had been seeking details about Bahrami`s case and had accused the Iranian authorities of refusing the Dutch embassy access to the prisoner because they did not recognise her dual nationality.

Foreign ministry spokesman Bengt van Loosdrecht said in The Hague that the ministry had not yet received confirmation of the execution. “The minister has summoned Iran`s ambassador in order to elucidate this piece of information,” he said.

On January 5, Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal expressed “extreme concern” about Bahrami, and said that he had “asked the Iranian authorities to provide immediate clarification” about her case. “We insist on information, the possibility to provide her with consular assistance, and a fair course of justice,” Rosenthal said in a statement at the time.

Dutch broadcaster Radio Netherlands Worldwide, quoting Bahrami`s daughter Banafsheh Najebpour, had reported earlier this month that Bahrami was awaiting trial in a second capital case in which she was accused of being in an armed opposition group.—AFP

Capital Punishment: The Debate

Electric chair used at Sing Sing Prison

By Jason Sweet

Capital punishment has been a subject for ethical debate for centuries. The use of the capital punishment in the United States and other countries has been met with much opposition throughout history. There are many individuals that do not believe it is the place of the legal system to take the life of a person convicted of a crime. There are also individuals that think murderers deserve to die. The death penalty debate is an important topic in the world today; however, capital punishment has been around for thousands of years. There are several aspects of capital punishment that have changed throughout history, including the popularity of the death penalty, the type of crimes punishable by death, and the method of execution.

Those individuals in favor of abolishing the death penalty are referred to as abolitionists. The abolitionists refuse to support the use of the death penalty for any crime. They argue that the death penalty is not needed to achieve justice in murder cases. Life in prison without the possibility of parole will suffice in keeping society safe from the criminal. Abolitionists also argue against the death penalty because there is the possibility that innocent people are incarcerated. Another argument against the death penalty is the presence of discrimination in the legal system. For example, poor people have less access to great legal assistance and therefore could be more likely to receive the death penalty. There is an extreme group of abolitionists that believe in the absolute sanctity of human life. This means that killing of any kind or for any reason is morally wrong. This even includes killing in war or in self defense. This extreme viewpoint is often seen as implausible. How can it be morally wrong to kill a terrorist about to blow up a building or an intruder about to murder an entire family? It seems morally right to save the lives of the innocent instead of the murderer. (Mappes, Zembaty, 2007)

Those individuals in favor of retaining the death penalty are referred to as retentionists. There are differences among retentionists regarding the kinds of cases they find acceptable to enforce the death penalty. Arguments for retention of the death penalty usually emphasize either considerations of justice or considerations of social utility. Considerations of justice include the idea that moral order is upset by the commission of an offense and the disorder must be rectified by punishment that is equal or proportional to the offense. Philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is famous for his defense of the law of retaliation, often expressed as “an eye for an eye” [1]. Punishment is to be inflicted in a measure that will equalize the offense; therefore, when the offense is murder, capital punishment is the only equalizer. Social utility refers to utilizing the death penalty as the only effective way to achieve social protection against the continuing threat posed by a criminal. (Mappes, Zembaty, 2007)

The first established death penalty laws have been traced back to Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon [2]. This code expressed the use of the death penalty for 25 different crimes. The death penalty was also part of the Hittite Code in Fourteenth Century B.C.[3] The Draconian Code of Athens, Seventh Century B.C., made death the only punishment for all crimes. Most societies today would never accept the same extreme punishment for all crimes. Most cultures would not impose equal punishment for shoplifting as for serial killing. At this time in history, death sentences were carried out by such means as drowning, beating to death, impalement, crucifixion, and burning alive (Intro to Death Penalty, n.d.). The method of execution has changed throughout history and appears to be associated with what is viewed as a “humane” death. A firing squad was used to execute Utah inmate and convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner on June 17, 2010 [4]. This was the first execution by firing squad in the United States in 14 years because the U.S mostly imposes lethal injection in capital punishment cases (Utah Firing, 2010). However, a firing squad seems very “humane” when compared to the aforementioned types of executions.

The execution methods and crimes punishable by death have changed throughout history. In the Tenth Century A.D., hanging was the most common method of execution in Britain. However, in Eleventh Century A.D., William the Conqueror would not allow criminals to be hanged or otherwise executed for any crime, with the exception of war time. Capital punishment laws changed with changing rulers. During the reign of Henry VIII, Sixteenth Century, it is estimated that 72,000 people were executed. Some common methods of execution at that time were boiling, beheading, burning at the stake, and drawing and quartering. Executions were carried out for capital offenses like marrying a Jew, treason, and simply not confessing to a crime. Again, these methods of execution seem very heinous compared to methods used today. By the 1700’s, there were 222 crimes punishable by death, including crimes like stealing or cutting down a tree. This resulted in juries not convicting defendants of minor offenses because the punishment was unconscionably severe. This lead to Britain’s reform of the death penalty, which reduced the number of crime punishable by death for over 100 of the 222 crimes from 1823 to 1837 (Intro to Death Penalty, n.d.).

The death penalty in America has been around for centuries and was influenced by capital punishment laws in Britain. These laws were brought over to the new world by European settlers. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. He was executed for being a spy for Spain. The Divine, Moral, and Martial Laws were enacted by Virginia Governor Sir Thomas Dale in 1612. These laws imposed the death penalty for minor crimes such as killing chickens, stealing grapes, or trading with Indians. Laws regarding capital punishment varied from colony to colony just as they varied from ruler to ruler hundreds of years earlier. In 1632, Jane Champion became the first woman executed in the new colonies. In 1767, Cesare Beccaria wrote an essay “On Crimes and Punishment”, which expresses that there is no justification in the state taking a life. This began the era of the abolitionist’s movement (Intro to Death Penalty, n.d.).

There were many milestones in the abolitionist’s movement in America beginning in the early 1800’s, followed by setbacks in the movement. At this period in history, many states began building penitentiaries and reduced their number of capital crimes. In 1838, Tennessee enacted discretionary death penalty statutes. In 1846, Michigan was the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason, followed by Rhode Island and Wisconsin. After the civil war there were new developments in executions. The electric chair was introduced at the end of the nineteenth century. The first electric chair was built in New York in 1888 and William Kemmler was the first person electrocuted in 1890 [5]. Between 1907and 1917, nine states abolish or strictly limit the death penalty; however, the abolitionist’s movement loses support between the 1920’s and 1940’s. In 1924, the use of cyanide gas was introduced as an execution method and the 1930’s saw the highest levels of executions in American history. By 1966, support of capital punishment reaches an all time low indicated by Gallup poll showing support for the death penalty at 42% (Intro to Death Penalty, n.d.)

Furman vs. Georgia was a significant case in the history of the death penalty in the United States. This case did not completely abolish the death penalty, but it placed stringent requirements on death penalty statutes. On the night of August 11th, 1967 in Savannah Georgia, a man named William Micke came home from work to his wife and five children. Micke was awakened in the middle of the night to a noise in the kitchen. He found William Henry Furman, a gun wielding 26 year old African American man. Furman fled the house after shooting and killing Micke. The police located Furman within minutes and he was still carrying the gun. Furman was charged with murder. His trial lasted only one day and a guilty verdict was delivered. Furman admitted to breaking into the home, but claimed he accidentally shot Micke when he tripped running out of the house. However, the death penalty statute in Georgia permitted executions even for unintentional killings (Furman-Significance, n.d.).

The Georgia Supreme Court upheld Furman’s conviction and death sentence in April 1969, but in May 1969 Chief Justice W.H. Duckworth stayed the execution so Furman could file a petition with the Supreme Court. Several lawyers handled his appeal instead of the state appointed attorney in his first trial. In January 1972, the case went before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington D.C. The court was mainly concerned with the legal question of whether the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This amendment states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." (Furman-Sentenced, n.d.). In June 1972, the Court voted to overturn Furman’s conviction on the grounds that in his case the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment. However, the justices were divided over the interpretation of the Eighth Amendment and all nine justices filed separate opinions. (Furman-Restricts, n.d.)

Another case that changed capital punishment in the United States was Gregg vs. Georgia. This case involved an armed robbery in which two men were killed. The judge instructed the jury that they could recommend either the death penalty or life in prison for each murder. The death penalty could only be issued under the following conditions: (1) The murder was committed while the offender was engaged in the commission of other capital felonies, (2) that he committed the murder to receive the victims’ money and automobile, or (3) that the murder was “outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman" in that it "involved the depravity of the mind of the defendant." The jury ultimately returned the sentence of death. The death sentence was then challenged under the Georgia statute of “cruel and unusual” punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The statute was amended following Furman vs. Georgia. However, in 1976, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence imposed on Troy Gregg. The decision essentially overturned the moratorium on the death penalty imposed by the Court in its 1972 decision in Furman vs. Georgia (“Lectric Law Library, n.d.)

The death penalty statutes have changed significantly in the United States throughout history and have formed the laws and practices that exist today. As of June 2010, there were 35 states that enforced the death penalty and 15 states that did not. Since 1976, there have been a total of 1,214 executions in the United States with the most popular method of execution being lethal injection (1041), followed by electrocution (157), gas chamber (11), hanging (3), and firing squad (2). In October 2009, there were 3,263 inmates on death row. Since 1976, Texas has had far more executions than any other state with 459 deaths. Since 1973, over 130 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence. The number of inmates released each year has increased because of new and improving technology such as DNA evidence. A 2009 survey of the country’s top criminological societies found that 88% of these experts did not think that the death penalty is a deterrent in the commission of homicides. A May 2006 Gallup poll found that the overall support of the death penalty was only 65%. (Death Penalty Facts, n.d.)

The state of Kentucky has recently had some significant death penalty cases. Marco Allen Chapman pleaded guilty in 2002 to the murders of two children and the attempted murders of another child and their mother. Chapman requested to be sentenced to death because he was haunted by what he had done. It was the first time that anyone has pleaded guilty to the death penalty in Kentucky. He resisted all appeals and was put to death by lethal injection, the first execution in the state in nine years (Ethics Forum, 2008). In 2008, Kentucky was involved in a debate over the constitutionality of lethal injection. Two men on Kentucky’s death row challenged the details of the lethal injections administration. This included the following: the chemicals used the training of the personnel, the adequacy of medical supervision, and the consequences and risk of error. Most states use a similar method as Kentucky but many states have adopted additional safeguards to ensure the inmate in properly anesthetized by the initial drug in the sequence. This drug is and ultra-short acting barbiturate known as sodium thiopental. The argument is that this drug does not properly anesthetize the inmate before the other two drugs are administered, which paralyze the muscles and stop the heart. Ultimately, Kentucky’s method of execution by lethal injection was upheld. (Greenhouse, 2008)

The death penalty has been around for thousands of years; however, the crimes punishable by death and method of execution have changed. The method of executions today are considered by most to be more “humane” that in the past. The most popular method of execution is lethal injection because it is relatively quick and painless with a good success rate. The methods used thousands of years ago were purposely cruel. These include deaths by boiling, impaling, quartering, burning alive, etc. The number of crimes punishable by death is much less today than in the past. In the United States, the death penalty is used mainly in murder cases. Centuries ago, very minor crimes could cost a person their life.

The ethical debate over the death penalty has existed for thousands of years and will continue to exist. The use of capital punishment will always be met by opposition because it involves a very sacred thing, human life. The following are several reasons why people oppose the death penalty: the simple belief in the sanctity of human life, the inability of everyone to get a fair trial, the cost of keeping someone of death row, and the possibility of an innocent person being put to death. There are also people that believe the death penalty should be retained. The following are some of the arguments for keeping the death penalty: The belief that a murderer deserves to die, the only way to be sure that the criminal cannot harm again, and as a deterrent for other people considering a crime. The use of capital punishment has changed significantly throughout history and will change if the future if history repeats itself.

NOTES
1. Kant was the last influential philosopher of modern Europe in the classic sequence of the theory of knowledge during the Enlightenment beginning with thinkers John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume.

2. King Hammurabi was the sixth king of Babylon from 1792 BC to 1750 BC.

3. The Hittite Law Code, dating from about the 14th century bc, reflects the Hittite’s closed rural economy and feudal aristocracy.

4. Ronnie Lee Gardner (January 16, 1961 – June 18, 2010) was an American who was convicted of robbery and two counts of murder. He was sentenced to death for the second murder, which was committed during a courtroom escape attempt.

5. Kemmler murdered Tillie Ziegler, his common-law wife, with a hatchet on March 29, 1889, and was sentenced to death by electrocution at New York's Auburn Prison.


Bibliography
1. Death Penalty Information Center. (Updated June 10, 2010). Retrieved June 28, 2010.
Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf
2. Furman v. Georgia - Court Severely Restricts Death Penalty. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/23533/Furman-v-Georgia-Court-Severely-Restricts-Death-Penalty.html#ixzz0saVtLmX5
3. Furman v. Georgia – Significance. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/23531/Furman-v-Georgia-Significance.html
4. Furman v. Georgia - Furman Sentenced To Death
Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/23532/Furman-v-Georgia-Furman-Sentenced-Death.html#ixzz0saXzFsTL
5. Mappes, T., & Zembaty, J. (2007). Social Ethics: Morality and Social Policy (7th ed). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. The Death Penalty: Chapter 3.
6. The ‘Lectric Law Library, Gregg v. Georgia. Retrieved June 30, 2010. Retrieved from
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/case26.htm
7. Death Penalty Information Center, “Introduction to the Death Penalty”. Retrieved June 28,
2010. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty#intro
8. Utah Firing Squad Execution: Ronnie Lee Gardner Pronounced Dead at 12:17 A.M. June 18,
2010. Retrieved June 29, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20008133-504083.html
9. Greenhouse, Linda. Justices Uphold Lethal Injection in Kentucky Case. April 17, 2008.

Iran Hangs 2 Dissidents

TEHRAN, Jan 28: Iran on Thursday hanged two men in the first executions of dissidents since protests erupted over presidential election in June, news reports said.

“Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmani Pour, whose cases were confirmed by a Tehran appeals court, were hanged on Thursday morning,” ISNA news agency said, quoting a statement from the Tehran prosecutor’s office.

The pair were also charged with plotting to topple the Islamic government, the agency said.

Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi confirmed the hanging to state-run television. “The two who were hanged today belonged to the monarchist group Tondar (the Kingdom Assembly of Iran).

“During their trials they confessed to obtaining explosives and planning to assassinate officials,” he said.

“They objected to the preliminary sentencing, but the appeals court upheld the verdict and they were hanged today,” Mr Dolatabadi added.

They were the first reported hangings of people tried after the wave of protest that broke out following the re-election on June 12 of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a second four-year term.

The statement from prosecutor’s office said nine other detained protesters faced charges of being Mohareb (“enemies of God”), trying to topple the government and belonging to the main outlawed opposition group. —AFP

West Indies May Restore Death Penalty

On Dec 19, 2008 St Kitts and Nevis hanged Charles Laplance for the 2006 murder of his wife — the first execution in the West Indies since the execution for murder of David Mitchell in the Bahamas in 2000.

Following Mitchell’s hanging there was a de facto ban on capital punishment in the English-speaking Caribbean in the wake of a 2000 ruling by the Privy Council, which lengthened the appeals process for those convicted of capital crimes to approximately five years. The five-year process effectively ended executions, as a separate law banned excessively long imprisonments for prisoners on death row.

Political pressures upon the Caribbean governments to respond to the sharp rise in crime has led to a restoration of capital punishment. In November 2008, the Jamaican parliament rejected a ban on capital punishment, with the Trinidad parliament following suit in February. The Bahamas legislature is currently debating restoring capital punishment. As of Sept 18, 2009 the West Indian nation recorded 59 homicides, Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest reported last week.

Read the full report here.

Death Penalty Sought in Slaying of Florida Couple

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- Prosecutors said Monday they will seek the death penalty for four of eight people charged in the killings of a Panhandle couple known for adopting children with autism, Down syndrome and other special needs.

In a brief statement, State Attorney Bill Eddins said he had filed notices to seek death for the accused ring leader, 35-year-old Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr.; 28-year-old Donnie Ray Stallworth; 41-year-old Wayne Thomas Coldiron; and 19-year-old Frederick Lee Thornton Jr.
All four have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, along with two other men and a 16-year-old boy. A woman has pleaded not guilty to accessory to first-degree murder.

Cheryl Alverson, an attorney for Thornton, said she heard the news late Monday and hadn't had a chance to talk with her client.

''We are not happy about it,'' she said. ''Anytime there is an issue like this, you have to prepare for the worst.''

Alverson, who was appointed by the state, said she would likely withdraw from the case because she was not qualified to defend a death penalty case.

Read it all here.

Albino Killers to Be Executed

From the Tanzania new reports:

Mr Kiwanga said over 40 lives had been lost in murders targeting albinos, adding that sentencing the convicts to death would not bring about any positive results. He noted that the fact that the murderers had been found guilty according to the law should not deny them the right to life. "Efforts should focus on preventing crime rather than letting people freely commit horrendous crimes and later sentencing them to death�it�s not very helpful."

Delivering the court's verdict in a packed courtroom in Kahama, Mr Justice Grabriel Rwakibalila said it had been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that the accused committed murder on the night of December 1, 2008 at Bunyihuna Village in Bukombe District.

He said although some defence witnesses told the court that the accused were not present at the crime scene, the same witnesses indicated that the defendants had conspired to kill the young albino. Mr Justice Rwakibalila said discrepancies in the prosecution's case did not alter the fact that the trio had in one way or another taken part in the murder. He said the Chief Government Chemist had confirmed that the accused's DNA was found on the severed legs of their victim.

The defence immediately said it would appeal against the conviction and sentences. Lead defence counsel Kamaliza Kayas said they were not satisfied with the verdict delivered at the end of the trial that began on June 8. "Justice has not been done we will appeal once all formalities have been finalised," he told The Citizen.

In Mwanza, several TAS members received the judgment with joy, and commended the judiciary for expediting the trials. "They killed an innocent and defenceless albino and they too deserve to die," said Ms Grace Wabanu, an undergraduate student at Saint Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT).

"I believe this judgment will serve as a deterrent to people who intend to kill albinos in the belief that their body parts will make them rich," said Ms Wabanu.

Read the full report here.

Norwegians Get Death Sentence for Spying

8 September - Two former Norwegian servicemen have been sentenced by a Congolese court to death after being convicted of espionage and murder.

According to reports, the two men identified as Tjostolv Moland and Joshua French, have also been ordered by the court to pay US$ 60 million in damages.

Further reports have quoted the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, condemning the decision, saying the two men were not spying, at least for the Norwegian government.

The minister also suggested his government would formally protest the sentencing.

Mr French (27) and Moland (28), faced charges of arms smuggling and espionage, the charges which they denied, while also were accused of the murder of their Congolese driver who was found shot dead in May this year in the north-east of the country.

They have however said their driver was killed when their vehicle was attacked by gunmen.

The two men are reported to have been in the Congo to explore the establishment of a private security company in the country.

From here.

Maryland to Reinstate Lethal Injection

In December 2006 an appeals court in Maryland ruled that the state could not carry out executions until a legislative panel reviewed the manual's protocol for lethal injections. The Maryland Court of Appeals said the manual was never given a public hearing or properly submitted to a joint committee before the Department of Corrections adopted it.

It appears that Maryland will now reinstate execution by lethal injection. Here's the latest on this:

The manual is the first public document to lay out execution procedures since Maryland reinstated the death penalty in 1978. The biggest change is that the new regulations require medical personnel who inject the lethal combination of drugs into an inmate's veins to find an alternative to the arms if those veins are too scarred to accept a needle.

The change was prompted by a lawsuit by Vernon L. Evans Jr., who said his arms were so scarred by drug use that he would be harmed when the three lethal drugs were administered. Evans is one of five inmates on Maryland's death row.

Other changes in the manual requested by the state's public defender's office include allowing the corrections chief to grant an inmate's request for a special last meal; allowing the inmate to choose which of his attorneys he wants to witness his execution; and allowing family members to visit as late as three hours before the execution instead of four.

The procedures also prohibit the state from using a medical procedure known as a "cut down" to guide the needle to a hard-to-locate vein. A cut down allows the inmate's skin to be cut, a method used in several states that has been criticized as antiquated and as causing the prisoner pain.

Jane Henderson, executive director of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, called the document's public release "a step" toward making executions more humane.
"In Maryland it's always been a very secretive process," she said. "Now we can see what they say they're going to do and analyze it carefully."

Read the full report here.

3 Fatah Members Condemned to Death

On 24 May 2009, a Gaza military court imposed the death penalty on three men for the May 2007 murder of two journalists, Souleyman Al-Ashi and Mohammed Abdu. All three men are members of Fatah.

Ashi and Abdu, who worked for the pro-Hamas newspaper "Palestine", were murdered on 13 May 2007 during fighting between Hamas and Fatah that led to Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip on 17 June 2007.

The three Fatah members who were sentenced to death are Shadi Khadar Ahmed, Raed Sabri Maqusi and Shadi Abdelkarim Madhun. Ahmed, 30, was arrested on 10 October 2007 and is being held by the Gaza police. Maqusi, 29, was arrested on 13 March 2008 but escaped from the Gaza City prison during an Israeli air strike on 28 December 2008 that was part of Operation Cast Lead. Madhun, 30, has yet to be arrested.

http://www.ifex.org/palestine/2009/05/26/death_sentence_opposed/

Scott B. Rae's Moral Choices

I recommend Dr. Scott B. Rae's Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics. It is a fine text for college ethics classes, providing students with a sound basis for making ethical decisions in today's postmodern culture. This book presents the theory of ethics and its application to social issues and uses cases studies to address current ethical issues.

Professor Rae outlines the distinctive elements of Christian ethics such as the concept of a fixed order of creation (the basis for Intelligent Design). He introduces students to ethical systems of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and Kant.

Rae's seven-step procedure for tackling ethical dilemmas provides students with a template for ethical reasoning.

Now in its second edition, Moral Choices is expanded and revised to provide the most current insights on:

• Abortion
• Reproductive Technologies
• Euthanasia
• Capital Punishment
• Sexual Ethics
• The Morality of War
• The Legislation of Morality
• Genetic Technologies and Human Cloning

Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics
By Scott B. Rae
Edition: 2
Published by Zondervan, 2000
ISBN 0310230152, 9780310230151
288 pages

Washington State Executioners Resign

Four people designated to administer lethal injections to death-row inmates at the Washington State Penitentiary resigned on Tuesdy, March 3.

On Thursday, The Seattle Times reported that the four resigned for fear that their names would become known as a result of litigation questioning the protocol of lethal injection in Washington State.

The identities of the four have been revealed only to a handful of people, state corrections chief Eldon Vail said, adding that he does not know who they are.

The agency will begin assembling a new team, and officials in other states have agreed to send a lethal injection team to Washington if needed, he said.

The last execution in the state was the lethal injection of James Homer Elledge on Aug. 28, 1991.

Read it more here.

Washington's Lethal Injection Protocol Questioned

SEATTLE, WA - A legal appeal challenging Washington state's protocol for lethal injection could result in a stay of execution for Cal Coburn Brown. The appeal is planned for next month. The Seattle Times reports the appeal filed in Thurston County by attorney Gil Levy on behalf of death row inmates Coburn Brown and Jonathan Gentry argues that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.

Patricia Murphy reports.

Currently Cal Coburn Brown is set to be executed on March 13 at Walla Walla State Penitentiary. He was convicted for the murder of a Burien woman in 1991. Gentry was convicted of killing a 12-year-old girl in 1981 near Bremerton. He has no set execution date. Late last year the State Department of Corrections changed the requirements for the execution team in charge of administering the three-drug cocktail. The new requirements include two years of blood drawing experience or the equivalent.

Sherilyn Peterson: "Before they had absolutely no qualifications. No they've introduced some qualifications, but there is no requirement that the qualifications be current. That's attorney Sherilyn Peterson. She represents convicted double murderer Darold Ray Stenson.

In November Peterson successfully convinced a Thurston county judge to stay stenson's December 3rd execution date. She argued the new standards were not properly vetted. Peterson said the courts need to decide if the protocols meet constitutional guidelines.

Sherilyn Peterson: "So you can have somebody who was trained twenty years ago and hasn't inserted an iv for years. And under the states policy that would facially be good enough. Because that person had the qualifications at one time."

The state asked the Thurston county court for a summary judgment and was denied. The challenge to the lethal injection protocol in the Stenson case will go to trial in May.

Maryland's New Death Penalty Restrictions

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- It's not the full repeal she had lobbied for, but Mary Ellen Russell hailed the House of Delegates for passing significant restrictions on the death penalty in Maryland. "We're really very pleased with the outcome of the vote," said Russell, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the state's Catholic bishops."

This measure is a significant step forward in ensuring that innocent lives will not be taken through the death penalty and in ensuring that capital punishment will be narrowed in scope," she told The Catholic Review, newspaper of the Baltimore Archdiocese.

The House of Delegates voted 87-52 to pass the measure March 26; the Senate had previously approved it by a 33-12 vote. Gov. Martin J. O'Malley announced in a March 26 statement that he will sign the restrictions into law in the coming weeks.

The newly approved restrictions will allow the death penalty in first-degree murder cases only when defendants are linked to the crime through DNA or biological evidence, videotaped evidence or a videotaped confession. It is considered one of the toughest sets of limitations on capital punishment in the nation.

Source: Catholic News Service

The intention of the new measures is to reduce the number of executions of persons who are later found to be innocent of the crime for which they were convicted. Let's hope it works!

I wonder if it will also cause greater suffering for some? C.S. Lewis explores this possibility in his thoughtful essay on capital punishement which can be read here.

Ugandan Inmates Challenge Death Penalty

Uganda's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by more than 400 inmates, on death row, to abolish death penalty. The judges of the Court upheld the punishment though ruling out that convicts should be executed within three year after sentencing.

On Monday, prisoners on Uganda's death row launched a legal challenge against capital punishment in the East African state.

The verdict comes close to fours years after the government appealed against an earlier constitutional court ruling that upheld that mandatory death sentences were unconstitutional, although overall, the court upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty.

The 2005 judgment ruled unconstitutional the automatic nature of the death penalty in Uganda for murder and other offences amounted to inhuman punishment, also indicating that it did not provide the individuals concerned with an opportunity to mitigate their sentences.

The Constitutional Court has provided the government with a 2 year period to give effect to the judgment after which all death sentences will be set aside. The Court also ruled that any of the prisoners who have been on death row more than 3 years would be entitled to have their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

In 2003, the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative contested the constitutionality of the death penalty which they said was cruel and inhumane.

According to the Uganda Prisons Department, in August 2005 there were more than 550 prisoners on death row, 27 of whom are women. The number of people on death row has increased from 525 on 31 December 2004. They have been convicted for various criminal offences including murder, robbery, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, treason, and cowardice in action.

No death sentences have been carried out in Uganda since 1999, when 28 people were executed in a single day. South Africa, Cape Verde and Rwanda are some of the countries in Africa that have abolished the death penalty.

Read it here.

Hamas Legalizes Crucifixion

On Tuesday, Dec. 23 Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari'a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion.

Hamas's endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time it renewed its jihad. Here, too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn't feel neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday, Hamas lobbed a mortar shell at the Erez crossing point into Israel just as a group of Gazan Christians were standing on line waiting to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas.

While Hamas joyously renewed its jihad against Jews and Christians, its overlords in Iran also basked in jihadist triumphalism. The source of Teheran's sense of ascendancy this week was Britain's Channel 4 network's decision to request that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad give a special Christmas Day address to the British people. Ahmadinejad's speech was supposed to be a response to Queen Elizabeth II's traditional Christmas Day address to her subjects. That is, Channel 4 presented his message as a reasonable counterpoint to the Christmas greetings of the head of the Church of England.

Read it all here.

Capital Punishment in Iran

TEHRAN — Iran on Wednesday hanged nine people convicted of murder in a mass execution in a Tehran prison as well as a drug trafficker in the north of the country, the Fars news agency reported.

Amnesty International says Iran carried out more death sentences in 2007 than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people.

Capital offences in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery.

Read it all here.