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California | San Quentin begins prison reform - but not for those on death row

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California is transferring everyone on death row at San Quentin prison to other places, as it tries to reinvent the state's most notorious facility as a rehabilitation centre. Many in this group will now have new freedoms. But they are also asking why they've been excluded from the reform - and whether they'll be safe in new prisons. Keith Doolin still remembers the day in 2019 when workers came to dismantle one of the United States' most infamous death chambers.

Death penalty abolition 'not easy' in Thailand

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It is not easy to abolish the death penalty in Thailand, the director-general of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department says.

Department chief Pitikarn Pitikarn Sithidej told a meeting held on Tuesday to consider the possibility of abolishing the capital punishment. 

Also present was Colin Steinbach, head of the political, press and information office of the EU delegation to Thailand. 

The meeting is held to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty on Oct 10.

Ms Pitikarn said that abolishing the death penalty does not mean offenders will not receive punishment they deserve

But the aim is to end the death penalty, which is seen as a cruel, inhumane, and uneconomical means of punishment, and to reduce the chance of wrongful execution.

The death penalty goes against the human rights principles and most prisoners on death row are the underprivileged who cannot afford to hire capable lawyers, Ms Pitikarn said.

There is no proof that the death penalty can deter crime, she added.

So far, 141 countries have abolished the death penalty, while 57 still have it, she said.

For Thailand, the last death penalty was administered in August 2009 and if no execution is carried out by 2019, the death penalty in Thailand will effectively be suspended, Ms Pitikarn said.

However, Ms Pitikarn admitted that it is difficult to abolish the death penalty in Thailand, partly because many people in society do not understand that there are alternatives to capital punishment.

Many see the death penalty as a means to get revenge, she said, adding the abolition must also involve legal amendments and opinions must be sought from all stakeholders, a time-consuming process.

Source: Bangkok Post, October 17, 2017


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

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