[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Nov. 6 SOUTH KOREA: Over 1/2 of S. Korean people support carrying out death penalty: poll About 1 out of every 2 South Korean people is in favor of implementing existing death penalty provision, a poll said Monday, although the country is classified as a de facto abolitionist country in the international community. South Korea has executed no one since the end of 1997, when 23 people were put to death. The moratorium was enacted in February 1998 by then-President Kim Dae-Jung. According to the survey of 511 people across the nation conducted by Realmeter on Friday, 52.8 % were for returning to execution, while 42.8 % were against it. Of its opponents, 32.6 % said it is desirable to retain capital punishment but to not put it into practice, and 9.6 % thought the death penalty itself should be scrapped, the poll said. Among those polled who are in favor of resuming executions, people in their 20s were the most supportive at 62.6 %, trailed by those in their 30s at 59.5 %, those in their 60s or older at 53.5 % and those in their 40s at 42.9 %. By ideology, 66.2 % of conservative respondents supported implementing the death penalty, and 54.2 % of centrist ones did so. On the other hand, only 39.4 % of progressive respondents were in favor. By region, Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province showed the highest support with 66.8 %, while Gwangju and Jeolla Provinces posted the lowest support with 46.3 %, the poll said. (source: yonhapnews.co.kr) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Death penalty for killing his wifeThe man was accused to beating his wife to death in Sharjah A Gulf national has been given death penalty on charges of beating his 25-year-old Arab wife to death. The verdict was issued by the Sharjah Sharia court on Sunday morning. The court handed down its verdict after the victim's family refused to pardon the killer and accept blood money. The court said the man would be executed in the presence of his wife's family members, who insisted for 'Qasas' (retributive justice as per Islamic Law) and refused to pardon him. According to court record, the case is dated back to January 2016 when a 37- year-old Gulf national got involved in quarrel with his wife over marital issues and their discussion turned violent. Then the husband slapped his wife and left the house. The couple have 1 daughter. During the police interrogation and court hearing, the accused confessed to the crime. He said he did not intend to kill his wife and he slapped her after they got involved in a heated discussion and then he went out of the house. He said that he found his wife drinking wine when he came back home late at night. He took the bottle from her hand and tried to take the glass as well but she refused and resisted. At this, he beat her again and went to sleep. He said he found his wife was sleeping with high fever but later he discovered that she was dead. He reported the incident to police operation room and surrendered himself to police. (source: gulfnews.com) IRANexecutions 2 Executions on Murder Charges 1 prisoner was executed at Mashhad Central Prison and 1 at Urmia Central Prison, both on murder charges. Execution in Urmia (Northwestern Iran) According to a report by Kurdistan Human Rights Network which was also confirmed by Iran Human Rights (IHR), on the morning of Wednesday November 1, a prisoner was hanged at Urmia Central Prison (Darya) on murder charges. The prisoner, identified as Tohid Mohammad-Bagherloo, 30, was from Khoy and was in prison on murder charges for 6 years. He was transferred to solitary confinement from Ward 1 and 2 of Urmia Central Prison on Tuesday. The execution of this prisoner has not been announced by the state-run media so far. Execution in Mashhad (Northeastern Iran) According to a report by Khorasan Newspaper, on the morning of Wednesday November 1, a prisoner was hanged at Mashhad Central Prison (Vakilabad) on murder charges. The prisoner, identified as M.T., was sentenced to death on murder charges. The report stated that the prisoner murdered a 67-year-old man with the help of his friend in 2011. According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 142 of the 530 execution sentences in 2016 were implemented due to murder charges. There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in issuing death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and intent. ** Man Executed on Murder Charges A prisoner was hanged at Maragheh Prison (East Azerbaijan province) on murder charges. According to a close source, on the morning of Tuesday October 31, a prisoner was executed at Maragheh Prison (Northwestern Iran) on murder charges. The prisoner, identified as Hooshang Delijan, 29, was from Hashtrud. He was arrested and sentenced to death on the charge of murdering a taxi driver in Maragheh 4 yea
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., OHIO, ARK., OKLA., UTAH, USA
Nov. 6 NORTH CAROLINA: The death penalty doesn't make us safer Charles Davenport argues that we need the death penalty to preserve an orderly society (column, Oct. 15). The only problem is, there is no evidence to support his claim. Here are the facts: The murder rate in states without the death penalty is lower than in states with capital punishment. Over the past decade, the average murder rate in non-death-penalty states has been 20 to 40 % lower. In North Carolina, our last execution was in 2006, and juries are sending fewer people each year to death row. If the death penalty were key to our safety, murders would have soared. Instead, the murder rate in 2015 (the most recent year for which the SBI provides statistics) was 5.8 per 100,000 people. That's 37 % lower than it was in 2006. As a person of faith, I am against the death penalty in any form. I believe that forgiveness is far more healing than taking a life. As a community, we must work to protect citizens from violence and crime. The death penalty does not advance these goals. The Rev. Willard Bass Winston-Salem (source: Letter to the Editor, News & Record) OHIO: Republicans join effort to abolish death penalty in Ohio With another execution looming next week in Ohio, a Democratic lawmaker is pushing a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in the Buckeye State. Although similar tries in 3 previous legislative sessions have gone nowhere, this time some Republicans are on board. House Bill 389, sponsored by Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, would replace capital punishment with a life sentence without parole. "The consideration of death by the state would be off the table. ... This doesn't mean they aren't prosecuted to the fullest extent by the law," Antonio said. Support for the death penalty is the lowest it has been in more than 4 decades, a 2016 Pew Research Center study shows. Nearly 1/2 of Americans, 49 %, favor the death penalty for those convicted of murder while 42 % oppose it. The Gallup Poll shows the same trend. A 2015 CBS News Poll showed that an overwhelming majority of Republicans, 73 %, favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder. Democrats were more split on the issue, with 44 % favoring the death penalty and 46 % opposing it. The surveys indicate Americans are increasingly concerned about innocent people on death row and racial disparities in sentencing. But proposed changes in Ohio's death-penalty procedures by Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor have made little headway. Antonio's bill has bipartisan support. Reps. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, and Craig Riedel, R-Defiance, are co-sponsors. "It's a life issue," Antani said. He says the ability to put someone to death is "way too big of a power" for the government. As a Roman Catholic, Riedel opposes capital punishment. "It's my faith that has led me to believe to not support the death penalty," Riedel said. "Mankind is not in charge of natural death." This is not the 1st legislative effort that has tried to put an end to capital punishment in Ohio. In fact, this is the 4th time Antonio has introduced the same bill to the General Assembly. "We are not saying do not punish the criminal," Antonio said. "Punish the criminal through a sentence of life without parole." Capital punishment is legal in 31 states, including Ohio. The next execution is scheduled for Nov. 15. Alva Campbell, 69, is set to die that day by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. He was sentenced to death for the 1997 aggravated murder of 18-year-old Charles Dials after taking a deputy's gun, escaping custody and car-jacking Dials' vehicle near the Franklin County Courthouse in Columbus. The Ohio Parole Board has recommended Gov. John Kasich deny clemency to Campbell. This would be Ohio's 3rd execution in 4 months, after a lengthy delay until the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state's lethal-injection protocol. Gary Otte was executed Sept. 13 using 3 lethal drugs, and Ronald Phillips was executed July 26. "I've visited death row inmates and they don't like my bill," Antonio said. She said they view the death penalty as a way to put them out of their misery. "Ohio is an outlier" when it comes to executions, said Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions. Currently, 27 men are scheduled to be executed in Ohio, including Campbell. "There's no state in the country that has that many executions lined up that far in advance," Werner said. Almost 140 prisoners were on death row in Ohio as of Oct. 2, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Some people are put on death row only to be later found not guilty, Antonio said. "I would think that no one would want to sentence any innocent person to death," Antonio said. Despite the shift in public attitudes, the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association continues to support cap
