Amnesty calls for death penalty axe

[webfact]

Amnesty calls for death penalty axe

By The Nation

 

Photo from: Amnesty

 

Amnesty International has called on the Thai government to officially suspend the use of the death penalty to elevate the country’s development on human rights as stated in its road map.

 

The move came after the release of its 2017 annual report on Thursday which recorded at least 993 executions in 23 countries last year with the Chinese government putting the most people to death.

 

The figure showed a 4 per cent decline from 2016, when 1,032 executions were recorded. 

 

According to the report, Thailand last year issued 75 death sentences. The number was reduced from 216 in 2016. 

 

Although Thailand is one of 56 countries that still has the death penalty, the last execution was conducted in August 2009, said Piyanut Kotsan, director of Amnesty International Thailand. 

 

“Thailand is now walking towards being an abolitionist in practice. If there is no execution in 10 consecutive years, the United Nations will recognise Thailand as a nation without execution in practice. It would mean a significant step forward in the development of human rights,” she said.

 

The latest update from Department of Corrections in late December said there were 502 inmates with the death sentence, of which 404 were male. More than half were sentenced for drug-related crimes.

 

The group also called for the government to continue working towards its human rights road map by reducing the number of crimes with a death penalty. 

 

Amnesty called for Thailand to accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aimed at the abolition of the death penalty. 

 

Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam still have the penalty.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30343105

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-04-13

[Thian]

I hope Thailand will put those amnesty-members on the ban-list.

 

Death penalty is given to very cruel criminals only, the ones who really deserve it. I wished the European countries also introduced the death penalty again.

[Henrik Andersen]

Amnesty is a joke 

Death penalty is for the serious criminals and they deserve it 

We can't sit hold hands and sing love songs and hope criminals will change 

 

[Puwa]

Isn't using an axe rather barbaric?

Edited April 13, 2018 by Puwa

[kannot]

1 minute ago, Puwa said:

Isn't using an ax rather barbaric?

better than a  saw , although i think many deserve that

[cornishcarlos]

Quality headline :)

[anon789561]

if i got life in a thai jail i'd rather hold a lotus leaf and get shot in the back quite frankly

[dinsdale]

8 hours ago, Thian said:

I hope Thailand will put those amnesty-members on the ban-list.

 

Death penalty is given to very cruel criminals only, the ones who really deserve it. I wished the European countries also introduced the death penalty again.

Except of course innocent people who have been put to death. Drug addicts (very cruel criminals?) who need help rather than death. It's not a deterrent. I think maybe you like Sharia law. They know how to deal with those very cruel criminals. I remember a case where a 16 year old was beheaded and a nine year old had his hands chopped off. Crime; 'stealing' bread from a bin. 

[AhFarangJa]

9 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Except of course innocent people who have been put to death. Drug addicts (very cruel criminals?) who need help rather than death. It's not a deterrent. I think maybe you like Sharia law. They know how to deal with those very cruel criminals. I remember a case where a 16 year old was beheaded and a nine year old had his hands chopped off. Crime; 'stealing' bread from a bin. 

While I can see your first point about innocent people over the years, and this is always a large part of the debate on the death penalty, I do not think you can compare Sharia Law to any Western laws. Sharia is a barbaric, backward, oppressive regimen that belongs in the 1400's.......which, if you look at the Muslim calendar is exactly where they are....

[hansnl]

9 hours ago, Thian said:

I hope Thailand will put those amnesty-members on the ban-list.

 

Death penalty is given to very cruel criminals only, the ones who really deserve it. I wished the European countries also introduced the death penalty again.

Maybe you should think again.

If the state may kill, why should a person not be allowed to kill?

And what about the state sanctioned murder of the 5% that were innocent?

 

I am happy to say that Europe, silly as it may be in other things, don't have the death penalty any more.

Unlike a few other countries in the western world.

[dinsdale]

11 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

While I can see your first point about innocent people over the years, and this is always a large part of the debate on the death penalty, I do not think you can compare Sharia Law to any Western laws. Sharia is a barbaric, backward, oppressive regimen that belongs in the 1400's.......which, if you look at the Muslim calendar is exactly where they are....

The death penalty is in itself barbaric. Also it wasn't a comparison it was a retort.

Edited April 14, 2018 by dinsdale

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, Puwa said:

Isn't using an axe rather barbaric?

Some people should have their head removed by nail file ! 

[Lupatria]

There is an easy solution: make it look like an accident! To safe face and keep the high morals standards put those sentenced to death on a cross country ride in a double decker bus on a rainy night during Songkran and watch what happens.

[DekDaeng]

2 hours ago, Happy enough said:

if i got life in a thai jail i'd rather hold a lotus leaf and get shot in the back quite frankly

Yes if I got 175 years for criminal sexual harrassment I think the state should offer me euthenasia -

[Aj Mick]

11 hours ago, Thian said:

I hope Thailand will put those amnesty-members on the ban-list.

 

Death penalty is given to very cruel criminals only, the ones who really deserve it. I wished the European countries also introduced the death penalty again.

 

9 hours ago, Henrik Andersen said:

Amnesty is a joke 

Death penalty is for the serious criminals and they deserve it 

We can't sit hold hands and sing love songs and hope criminals will change 

 

In your idealistic imagination. In reality, in some countries people are executed for crimes that would be relatively minor, or don't even exist in other countries. Then there are the cases the powers that be find it expedient to sentence some Burmese patsy to death for the heinous crime of some well connected big shot. 

 

In reality, all round the world, too many are sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit..... If they get "lucky" they get exonerated before the sentence is carried out, albeit after many years of incarceration.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Aj Mick

[Thian]

2 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Except of course innocent people who have been put to death. Drug addicts (very cruel criminals?) who need help rather than death. It's not a deterrent. I think maybe you like Sharia law. They know how to deal with those very cruel criminals. I remember a case where a 16 year old was beheaded and a nine year old had his hands chopped off. Crime; 'stealing' bread from a bin. 

You think drug addicts are very cruel criminals who get the death sentence in Thailand?

 

 

[Thian]

42 minutes ago, Aj Mick said:

 

In your idealistic imagination. In reality, in some countries people are executed for crimes that would be relatively minor, or don't even exist in other countries. Then there are the cases the powers that be find it expedient to sentence some Burmese patsy to death for the heinous crime of some well connected big shot. 

 

In reality, all round the world, too many are sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit..... If they get "lucky" they get exonerated before the sentence is carried out, albeit after many years of incarceration.

We just have to accept that sometimes the wrong ones get the death penalty. Can't avoid that.

 

In Holland they also think that by talking to them they can cure any serial rapist/killer, when they're released after some years they do it again within a week....(raping/kiling or both other innocent people)...and even after that they get a new (very expensive) cure and release date.

 

It's absolutely ridiculous to think those guys will become normal people after several years in jail (where they can watch pornmovies all day).If they took my kid as their victim i would do anything within my possibility to give him the death punishment myself. And also those judges/psychodoctors better went hiding..

[Aj Mick]

13 minutes ago, Thian said:

We just have to accept that sometimes the wrong ones get the death penalty. Can't avoid that.

 

Your tough sounding stance is shared by just an irrelevant few reactionaries ..... Most of the world has decided the risk of sentencing people to death for a crime that they didn't commit is too horrendous to accept. 

Edited April 14, 2018 by Aj Mick

[khunken]

23 minutes ago, Thian said:

We just have to accept that sometimes the wrong ones get the death penalty. Can't avoid that.

 

In Holland they also think that by talking to them they can cure any serial rapist/killer, when they're released after some years they do it again within a week....(raping/kiling or both other innocent people)...and even after that they get a new (very expensive) cure and release date.

 

It's absolutely ridiculous to think those guys will become normal people after several years in jail (where they can watch pornmovies all day).If they took my kid as their victim i would do anything within my possibility to give him the death punishment myself. And also those judges/psychodoctors better went hiding..

'We just have to accept that sometimes the wrong ones get the death penalty. Can't avoid that.'

 

No 'we' don't have to accept any such thing.

Serial rapists & killers should be locked up for life (which is a punishment worse than death) with very strict allowances for parole after many years of jail. If what you say about Holland is correct (& is proven), then the laws are simply just too leinent.

Killing is just revenge as you admit and nothing to do with justice.

[Henrik Andersen]

1 hour ago, Aj Mick said:

 

In your idealistic imagination. In reality, in some countries people are executed for crimes that would be relatively minor, or don't even exist in other countries. Then there are the cases the powers that be find it expedient to sentence some Burmese patsy to death for the heinous crime of some well connected big shot. 

 

In reality, all round the world, too many are sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit..... If they get "lucky" they get exonerated before the sentence is carried out, albeit after many years of incarceration.

In China meaby but this is about Thailand so in your idealistic would just try to see why they get death penalty here

[brianp0803]

Most people would probably vote against the death penalty.

 

The same people would vote against raising taxes to build secure jail facilities and vote against prisons in their cities.

 

Many people want human rights policies that cost them mo money.

 

I wish more people would put their money with what they claim are their beliefs.

[Retiredandhappyhere]

8 hours ago, Puwa said:

Isn't using an axe rather barbaric?

I , too,  thought from the headline that Amnesty was suggesting bring back the axe to implement the death penalty.  

[HHTel]

The last execution in Thailand was in 2009 and prior to that in 2003.

There are around 650 on 'death row', none of whom will have the sentence carried out.

 

Although the death penalty is still on the books, in practice it's no longer used.

 

Abolishing the death penalty would be no more than a formality.

[greenchair]

11 hours ago, Henrik Andersen said:

Amnesty is a joke 

Death penalty is for the serious criminals and they deserve it 

We can't sit hold hands and sing love songs and hope criminals will change 

 

My brother was a drug addict and drug dealer in his early teens to late 20s. After government rehabilitation where he was counciled through child abuse and taught job skills and life skills, he cleaned himself up. 

He went on to marry and have a son. So far for 20 years he has been a law abiding tax payer and done a great deal for his community, to pay his penance. 

His son is a star student and has graduated with outstanding honours. 

My brother would have been dead at 20 and his son never born if you were in charge. 

[tfc]

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Some people should have their head removed by nail file ! 

Or a pencil.

[dinsdale]

9 hours ago, Thian said:

You think drug addicts are very cruel criminals who get the death sentence in Thailand?

 

 

You need to read the post I was responding to. You also don't seem to understand what parenthesis and questions marks mean. Suggest you scroll back for another look.

[007cableguy]

I'm not against the death penalty but in Thailand I would not be confident that the correct conviction has been dished out with the way the Thai police work!!...Dna can be pretty damning evidence except when in the hands of these inept fools!!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Thian]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

You need to read the post I was responding to. You also don't seem to understand what parenthesis and questions marks mean. Suggest you scroll back for another look.

You need to understand that some people just can't function in this world and will always be a problem, no matter how much effort we put in trying to correct them.

So death penalty is the only solution, even if you start to cry about it.

[bedouin1990]

Ask amnesty how much they are willing to contribute to the upkeep of prisoners sentenced to life in prison.

[HHTel]

9 hours ago, bedouin1990 said:

Ask amnesty how much they are willing to contribute to the upkeep of prisoners sentenced to life in prison.

But isn't that the reality.  650 on 'death row' and the death penalty here pretty much defunct.  Therefore any death sentence given results in a life imprisonment.  Officially abolishing the death penalty will change nothing.

It's already been said that after 10 years with no executions, the country will already be recognised as a 'non-user' of the death penalty.  Next year, Thailand will fall into that category.