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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

Nirbhaya case: International Commission of Jurists condemns execution of convicts, urges govt. to abolish death penalty

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Introduce ‘systematic changes’ to the legal framework to deter violence and improve access to justice for women, it urges Centre

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) on Friday condemned the hanging of the four men convicted for Nirbhaya’s gangrape and murder while stating that the execution of the perpetrators was an “affront to rule of law and does not improve access to justice for women.”

Denouncing the executions, the ICJ urged the Centre to abolish death penalty and introduce “systematic changes” to the legal framework to deter violence and improve access to justice for women.

Frederick Rawski, ICJ Asia-Pacific Director, said: “State-sanctioned executions are little more than public theatre that risk celebrating and perpetuating violence at the expense of the ‘rule of law.’ As heinous as these crimes were, the imposition of the death penalty — the deterrent effect of which has been widely debunked — does nothing to improve the lives of women.”

The ICJ also called upon the government of India to join other states and take immediate steps towards towards ending the practice of capital punishment, as prescribed by United Nations General Assembly Resolutions.

Senior advocate and human rights activist Vrinda Grover said, “In 2013, the criminal laws were amended. However, 7 years later the graph of rapes has not diminished. Instead of compelling the state to invest in plugging the gaps in the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of sexual crimes and formulating victim-oriented processes, the clamour for execution of the convicts has hijacked the discourse.”

“Seven years later, the power of the state to extinguish life stands entrenched, while women and girls in India continue to struggle to live a life of freedom, safety and dignity as equal persons,” Ms. Grover said.

Source: thehindu.com, Staff, March 21, 2020


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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
Location: India
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