Far Away Places and Different Ideas
I have been reading about the impending execution of Nguyen Tuong Van in Singapore the last few days. If you've been following the story, this young man was apprehended while carrying 400 grams of heroin through the airport in Singapore. Under Singapore law, a conviction for drug trafficking carries a mandatory death sentence. As I write this, Nguyen Tuong Van is only hours away from the scaffold. The Australian government has been lobbying for clemency, and Singapore has stood their ground. It appears that this young man is doomed. The only question that remains is whether the authorities will allow his mother one last chance to give her condemned son a hug.
I can easily say that I think the death penalty is barbaric. I've always been opposed to it. I believe that people, including judges, lawyers and police are fallible and make mistakes. I would be the first to admit that I could not sit on a jury that had to make a life or death decision. I'm not in any position to pass judgment on anyone else, no matter how heinous the crime they have committed. The biblical injunction about throwing stones and glass houses applies.
A case closer to home might illustrate my point. Take Guy Paul Morin for example. He is a wrongfully convicted man who was sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. He spent more than a decade behind bars because an overzealous detective bent the facts to fit his conclusions. Mr. Morin could have been executed if Canada had the death penalty. His is only one of many high profile cases that have been reviewed in recent years and the conviction overturned. Better late than never.
Still others might refer to a particularly notorious villain named Paul Bernardo. It seems quite clear that he was responsible for the brutal slaying of at least two young girls, and the rape of many others. What problem should I have with executing him if capital punishment were still on the books? To me it's not a bad thing that he's enjoying a thoroughly miserable existence in a penitentiary for the rest of his days. He constantly lives in fear of assault from the other inmates. He's had a few buckets of shit thrown on him according to news reports. If we were to end his life, then he could prepare for an end to his torment. What would be the justice there? He's completely and permanently trapped in a horrible situation that won't end until he dies. Sounds like justice to me. Perhaps it might be fitting to have Bernardo live a few more decades quivering in fear waiting for the next fist or bucket of excrement with his name on it.
The worst thing about Nguyen Tuong Van's situation is that he was trying to make money to escape a life of indebtedness. A young man who made a terrible mistake is paying the ultimate price because he is poor. Mitigating factors apply, and mandatory sentences deprive judges of showing mercy where it's applicable. As it stands, a young man will have his life snuffed out within the next few hours, and nobody will notice except for his grieving mother.
The world is a cruel place.
I can easily say that I think the death penalty is barbaric. I've always been opposed to it. I believe that people, including judges, lawyers and police are fallible and make mistakes. I would be the first to admit that I could not sit on a jury that had to make a life or death decision. I'm not in any position to pass judgment on anyone else, no matter how heinous the crime they have committed. The biblical injunction about throwing stones and glass houses applies.
A case closer to home might illustrate my point. Take Guy Paul Morin for example. He is a wrongfully convicted man who was sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. He spent more than a decade behind bars because an overzealous detective bent the facts to fit his conclusions. Mr. Morin could have been executed if Canada had the death penalty. His is only one of many high profile cases that have been reviewed in recent years and the conviction overturned. Better late than never.
Still others might refer to a particularly notorious villain named Paul Bernardo. It seems quite clear that he was responsible for the brutal slaying of at least two young girls, and the rape of many others. What problem should I have with executing him if capital punishment were still on the books? To me it's not a bad thing that he's enjoying a thoroughly miserable existence in a penitentiary for the rest of his days. He constantly lives in fear of assault from the other inmates. He's had a few buckets of shit thrown on him according to news reports. If we were to end his life, then he could prepare for an end to his torment. What would be the justice there? He's completely and permanently trapped in a horrible situation that won't end until he dies. Sounds like justice to me. Perhaps it might be fitting to have Bernardo live a few more decades quivering in fear waiting for the next fist or bucket of excrement with his name on it.
The worst thing about Nguyen Tuong Van's situation is that he was trying to make money to escape a life of indebtedness. A young man who made a terrible mistake is paying the ultimate price because he is poor. Mitigating factors apply, and mandatory sentences deprive judges of showing mercy where it's applicable. As it stands, a young man will have his life snuffed out within the next few hours, and nobody will notice except for his grieving mother.
The world is a cruel place.
posted by othercat @ 10:19 p.m.
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