Blog Delays .
15 February 2007
Due to a number of on-going commitments, my blogs have been delayed.
Plans are to turn these into weekly updates, however due to my current workload I will not be able to get to that until the end of the month. Much of this workload is related to the many current changes throughout the world on the death penalty..
In the meanwhile I encourage you all to actively monitor the developments throughtout the world on the abolition of the death penalty. Amnesty International, Amnesty USA, the Death Penalty Information Center and Hands Off Cain are particularly good sources. My thanks also to Dave Cooper who continues to send me excellent related articles.
Continuing Momentum of Abolition and Moratoriums in the United States, World Congress on the Death Penalty in Paris.
4 February 2007
2007 is proving to be a momentus year in the push to Abolish the Death Penalty. Events that have occured in the past two months may be pivotal in spreading abolition across all democratic nations and into Islamic nations as well.
In the United States more states are suspending executions and more Governors are showing a willingness to consider abolition and moratoriums. Probably the driving force is more the economic fact that the death penalty is a waste of money, however public outcry at the inhumanity of execution and the methods of execution coupled with the legal complications of unconstitutional legislation means that state-sanctioned killing may soon be unfashionable to people in any political party in the US.
Within the last two months...
In Montana a bill to commute all death sentences to life is about to be discussed in the legislature; In Tennassee last week the Governor ordered a suspension of executions following concerns over lethal injection procedures; In Utah a proposed expansion of the death penalty to sex offenders was changed to life imprisonment the maximum penalty; Executions were stayed in North Carolina, Ohio and even TEXAS last month; California is under a suspension of all executions; Maryland has suspended executions and looks to head in the direction of abolition; Florida is still reeling from the botched execution of a Puerto Rican man; New Jersey is poised to abolish capital punishment;In Virginia, efforts to expand the death penalty face fierce opposition from an abolitionist Governor; Missouri may be about to start a 3-year moratorium on executions because of concerns about innocence.
Outside of the US, public reaction to the execution of Saddam Hussein and to the gruesome executions of two of his cohorts, has spurred-on further moves by the European Union to press the UN member states to declare a worldwide moratorium aimed towards abolishing the death penalty.
This past week, the 3rd World Congress on the Death Penalty opened in Paris (it wrapped-up yesterday). The Congress started in Strasbourg in 2001, in 2004 it was held in Montreal. It is comprised of representatives from all around the world including many NGOs (including Amnesty International) and members of the World Coalition. The Congress website is online in several languages including English. Part of the Congress included an online petition (which you can still sign) to China protesting the extreme use of the death penalty by Chinese authorities in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.