[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
Sept. 5 SOUTH AFRICA: The death of capital punishment in SA The Constitutional Court abolished the death sentence in 1995, with a unanimous landmark judgment penned by then-ConCourt president Arthur Chaskalson. Everyone has the right to life. That’s the full text of chapter 2, section 11 of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution – and the phrases “capital punishment” and “death penalty” do not occur in the document. According to a 2016 study by the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR), Is there a case for South Africa to reintroduce the death penalty?, between 1910 and 1975, about 2 740 people were executed and another 1 100 between 1981 and 1989. The charge for the return of the death penalty began with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) last year and was brought back to life last week by the African Transformation Movement (ATM). “The last hanging took place in 1989, following which the then state president, FW de Klerk, put a stop to them pending a decision on capital punishment by the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa),” the IRR study stated. “Although Codesa adopted a comprehensive Bill of Rights as part of the 1993 constitution, it did not outlaw capital punishment, leaving that matter to the court. When it issued its prohibition on further executions in 1995, possibly as many as 400 people were waiting on death row.” Until it was abolished, capital punishment had been implemented not only for murder but also for rape, housebreaking and robbery or attempted robbery with aggravating circumstances, sabotage, training abroad to further the aims of communism, kidnapping, terrorism and treason. The Constitutional Court abolished the death sentence in 1995, with a unanimous landmark judgment penned by then president of the Constitutional Court Arthur Chaskalson. The judge was deciding on the futures of 2 accused convicted on four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of robbery with aggravating circumstances in S v Makwanyane and Another. “Retribution cannot be accorded the same weight under our Constitution as the rights to life and dignity, which are the most important of all the rights in chapter three,” Chaskalson said before banishing capital punishment. *** The EFF does not support the death penalty – Malema Despite SA’s current wave of violence, the EFF leader says ‘our brothers and sisters will be the ones that are hanged’ if capital punishment returns. Addressing the media at a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema disagreed with the death penalty as a way of dealing with the scourge of violence against women and children in South Africa. “We don’t support death penalty. Anyone who suggests death penalty must give scientific evidence of where death penalty has succeeded in reducing crime,” he said. “The legal system in SA is very expensive, you may be wrongfully accused and because you can’t afford proper legal representation, you will be hanged. In a system that hates black people, our brothers and sisters will be the ones that are hanged. “We need a biting criminal justice system. The laws are there, our police are the ones that are failing us,” he continued. This followed Malema addressing the recent murders of women Uyinene Mrwetyana, Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels, Janika Mallo, as well as Ayakha Jiyani and her siblings. “The reality is that these are not unique cases, but a reflection of the daily experiences of women and children who face the threat of rape, abuse, and death in both private and public spaces,” he said. “The solution to these problems must lie in fixing our public institutions of law enforcement; the police stations, prosecutors, and judges who care. “Perpetrators of sexual crimes in our country know that women never get any help from the system and thus they perpetrate their crimes on them with impunity. “Our criminal justice system is most toothless when it comes to dealing with rape, detecting psychopaths and unearthing violent domestic spaces. “The power of the law must precisely be so effective that it is observed by all in public and domestic spaces because they know there are consequences. “It is, therefore, the police and the criminal justice system that must take full responsibility for why rape and murder of women and children has become part of our daily lives. “We call on a national emergency on police stations to be radically and urgently reconfigured as safe spaces for the report of sexual crimes. We call on investigative capacity to be immediately developed to detect sexual violence in domestic and private spaces,” the EFF leader said. “We need caring judges; who are welcoming and sensitive, not those who seem to perpetuate the intimidating nature of court,” he added later in his address. (source for both: The Citizen)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ILL., CALIF., ORE., USA
Sept. 5 ILLINOIS: Republican lawmaker to introduce death penalty bill A Republican state lawmaker is calling for the resurrection of the death penalty in Illinois after two mass shootings in the U.S. and recent gun violence in Chicago. Barrington Hills Rep. David McSweeney said he will either sponsor or co-sponsor some version of a measure overturning the moratorium former Gov. Pat Quinn placed on capital punishment 8 years ago. At the time, Quinn said Illinois should not have a system in place that might result in the erroneous execution of citizens. McSweeney said “eliminating the death penalty was a terrible mistake.” “It has been a complete failure,” he said. Mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on Aug. 3-4 killed 31 people. In Chicago last weekend, 4 people were killed and 43 injured in gun-related violence, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Texas officials are pursuing the death penalty against the coward racist who targeted Mexican Americans in El Paso. We should have that tool in the state of Illinois,” McSweeney said. “The time to act is now, because the death penalty is a deterrent that we need to protect our citizens. No one can argue the state of Illinois is a model for how to fight crime.” In part, Quinn’s argument for signing legislation making Illinois the 16th state to abolish capital punishment was the lack of advancement in DNA testing, McSweeney said. But DNA technology has progressed “light years” beyond its stage in 2011, he added, to be the “key to ensuring there are no wrongful convictions.” “I want to make sure there are safeguards,” he said. According to a Pew Research Center study published last year, 54 % of Americans support capital punishment for those convicted of murder. That number is up from 49 % 2 years prior. 39 % of people oppose the death penalty. McSweeney is not the only Illinois politician to express support for capital punishment. In an unexpected move last year, former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed reviving the death penalty by using his amendatory veto power on a firearms measure that needed his signature to become law. The legislation would have extended the 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases to include assault weapons. Rauner wrote in his veto message that the proposal did not go far enough to prevent gun violence incidents and other public safety concerns. His addition would have created a new category of crime — a “death penalty murder” — that encompassed anyone 18 or older who killed 2 or more people “without lawful justification” or if the victim is a police officer. “The ultimate public safety objectives of this bill would be better served with comprehensive solutions,” he wrote, which included a ban on bump stocks, the addition of mental health and law enforcement personnel in schools, and “reintroducing the death penalty for the most egregious cases.” The General Assembly did not vote on Rauner’s proposal, effectively running out the clock on the bill. Before Rauner’s push last year, Illinois’ staunchest supporter of the death penalty in state politics arguably was former Republican Rep. John Cavaletto, from Salem. Cavaletto’s last iteration of a measure to reinstate the death penalty would have applied to persons older than 18 who were convicted of first-degree murder for killing a police officer, firefighter, employee of a correctional agency, or a child; or for killing more than 1 person. Cavaletto’s legislation never moved out of committee, and McSweeney said he knows he faces an uphill battle with the Democratically-controlled General Assembly. “This one will have a lot of opposition. I don’t think it’s going to happen in the short run, but it’s an issue I will continue to focus on - through public education and through pointing out and proving the advances in DNA technology,” he said. “I believe it’s the right thing to do.” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, filed legislation to strike the use of capital punishment by the federal government. The move came after President Donald Trump’s administration announced last month it would resume the use of the death penalty for the 1st time in 16 years. “Try as we might, we cannot escape the fact that the death penalty in America is disproportionately imposed on minorities and poor people,” Durbin said in a news release. But McSweeney said a capital punishment measure is worth having a discussion about in a committee hearing. “There needs to be a coordinated effort between state officials and the federal government to once and for all end this problem of violence in the city and in our state,” he said. “We need to get tough on crime again in this state and defend our citizens.” (source: sj-r.com) CALIFORNIA: Death Penalty Phase Of Hollywood Ripper Trial Postponed -- Jurors will be asked to recommend death or life in prison for the convicted double-murderer dubbed
