World opinion condemns the US for a 'savage' execution

[Onur]

World opinion condemns the US for a 'savage' execution

Around the world and across the US, the firing squad execution in Utah has been met with a wave of criticism from those entirely opposed to the death penalty and those who say that shooting is not the most humane method of killing a prisoner.

In Salt Lake City, opponents held a multi-faith vigil. "I think we do not prefer to be associated with Iran, China, Saudi Arabia and the other countries who use the death penalty as we have used it," Nancy Appleby, chairwoman of the Utah Episcopal Diocese Peace and Justice Commission.

Rev Tom Goldsmith of the First Unitarian Church agreed: "Murdering the murderer doesn't create justice or settle any score." Bishop John Wester added: "The firing squad is archaic, violent and simply expands on the violence that we already experience from guns as a society."

Civil rights organisations in the US also joined the chorus of opposition. "Gardner's execution was both savage and inhumane and highlights the systemic injustices that plague the entire death penalty system in Utah and the rest of the United States," said John Holdridge, director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Such arbitrary and discriminatory administration of the death penalty is the very definition of a failed system."

The USA has carried out 28 executions so far this year, and 1,216 since resuming judicial killing in 1977. Utah accounts for six of these executions.

Amnesty International, which has long called for a worldwide repeal of the death penalty, said shooting had also been used in China, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Vietnam this past year.

But that may no longer be the case in Vietnam. The day before Gardner was killed, legislators there voted to end the use of firing squad and make lethal injection the only method for executions. The change is due to take effect next year.

Vietnam has long been criticised for the number of death sentences if imposes. About 100 people are executed each year in Vietnam, many for drug-related crimes.

The decision to switch to lethal injection came after a parliamentary committee said it was necessary to find a more humane method.

Amnesty International said it "opposes the death penalty, in all cases and in all countries, regardless of the method used to kill the prisoner, or the nature of the crime for which he or she was sentenced to death."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...n-2004760.html

They brought "democracy" to Afghanistan and Iraq and soon they gonna bring it to the Iran. USA is supposedly the model country for all of us, right?

[fyrOM]

Rev Tom Goldsmith of the First Unitarian Church agreed: "Murdering the murderer doesn't create justice or settle any score."

Its not murder. Its an execution and yest it does. Go Republican. Go capital punishment.

Or is it better what we have go kill someone and be out in 12 years tops. In many prisons they can watch tv access a computer and the internet and read and exercise to entertain themselves.. They can study in prison get out get a job and get on with their life. And that they killed someone it happened tough. Well execution happens too tough. i think my life is worth more than it happened.

[Makedonetz]

Use rope its cheaper

These anti lobbyist here in Canada do the same thing,...if a car hits a turtle by accident they camp out for days on the highway protesting the injustice the poor animal indured.

[fyrOM]

I once read a news article where the writer tried to convince the readers capital punisment was not only bad but also didn’t work as a study he was citing showed murder rates were no different in states with or without capital punisment so it was according to him better not to have it. Ahhh…No its not. In todays prices it costs about 50 to 6 thousand dollars a year to keep a prisoner who if is in for life the ral life people not the pretend life sentence in Australia they could live for another 60 or 70 years if they are young enough. Great though that you not only lost a loved one but your taxes are paying for their tv internet ect and food for the next 60 to 70 years. With capital punishment they live for maybe 15 years for any appeals and then no more cost. And the bad side is…..oh yeah none.

[Risto the Great]

1% of the USA population is in jail. Something is obviously wrong there. Executing some of them is a cheaper option I suppose.

[Mr Mousaka]

Hello everyone, I'm new here.
It was his choice to be executed like this, the Judge gave him an option.

[Onur]

Hello everyone, I'm new here.
It was his choice to be executed like this, the Judge gave him an option.

It doesn't matter if it was his choice or not. The thing is there is an execution style as primitive as this still exist in USA at 2010. We can only find other examples like this in China and Saudi Arabia...

It`s even ridicules to consider the execution as an option for punishment in a democratic country.

[Buktop]

1% of the USA population is in jail. Something is obviously wrong there. Executing some of them is a cheaper option I suppose.

Yea, it's because under the Reagan administration they increased penalties for Drug offenses, and introduced the 3 strike rule.

have a look here, from the 1980's (when Reagan introduced the "war on drugs") incarceration numbers skyrocketed

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/US_incarceration_timeline-clean.svg

The percentage of state prison inmates who reported being under the influence of drugs at the time of their offense was almost thirty-three percent (33%) (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997).
In Albuquerque, New Mexico and Chicago, Illinois, close to thirty percent (30%) of males arrested and forty percent (40%) of females arrested in 1999 tested positive for more than one drug at the time of arrest (National Institute of Justice, 2000).
An estimated 61,000 (16%) of convicted jail inmates committed their offense to get money for drugs (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000).
In 1998, Americans spent $66 billion on illegal drugs, with $39 billion being spent by consumers on cocaine (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2000).
In 1999, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported an estimated 1,577,100 arrests for drug abuse violations in the United Sates (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2000).

It is also fair to say that our approach at punishment is not necessarily effective, and we should rather focus on drug rehabilitation.