Indonesia | More Indonesians Oppose Death Penalty: Research

Jakarta. While the majority of the Indonesian people are in favor of death penalty, their support for it declines as they learn more about the scope of judicial killing or are shown with specific circumstances such as unfair trials, according to a public opinion research by Oxford University whose results were released on Wednesday.

There are currently more than 350 death row inmates in Indonesia, with convicted drug traffickers accounting for around 60 %.

The research highlighted that the public lacked knowledge about the death penalty; only 2 percent considered themselves “very well informed”, and only 4 percent stated that they were “very concerned” about the issue.

It found that of 1,515 respondents, 69 % initially favored retention of the death penalty -- although only 35 % felt ‘strongly’ in favor of retention.

However, “when presented with realistic scenarios on the application of the death penalty, there was a dramatic decline in the public’s support for its retention,” according Professor Carolyn Hoyle of Oxford University's The Death Penalty Research Unit.

“Of those who had initially supported retention, 70% changed their minds when shown a variety of specific circumstances where the death penalty could be applied,” she said in a statement.

Up to 1/2 of death penalty supporters agreed to change their mind under certain circumstances: the death penalty was applied unfairly (47 %), wrongful convictions occur (46 %), there was no deterrent effect (38 %), or religious leaders showed support for abolition (37 %).

The research was conducted in 2019-20 in partnership with the University of Indonesia and law firm LBH Masyarakat which provides pro bono legal services.

Opinion Formers

Initial views from the public were in contrast to those of the so-called opinion formers, a group of 40 selected respondents considered influential in shaping or responding to public opinion across Indonesia.

The research found that 67 % of opinion formers immediately supported abolition of the death penalty, with the majority “strongly” in favor of it.

“While 33 % of opinion leaders were in favor of retention, only half ‘strongly favored’ it,” the report says.

Both the public and opinion formers stated the same reasons for favoring abolition: the risk and possibility of wrongful conviction or execution, and a disbelief in the death penalty’s deterrent effect.

On the other hand, the main rationale for supporting the death penalty across both groups “was a belief in the punishment’s deterrent effect against serious crime, with a particular focus on drug crime”.

The research team, however, noted that such a notion remains unsubstantiated.

“There has been no nuanced research carried out to-date that proves the deterrent effect of capital punishment in relation to drug crime,” it says.

“These findings show that opinion formers in Indonesia want the death penalty to be abolished and public opinion is no barrier to abolition.”

Last Executions

Judicial executions were last conducted in 2016, when 4 convicted drug traffickers including 3 foreign nationals were put to death by firing squad.

One of them is Humprey Jefferson, a Nigerian citizen who was sentenced to death after police found 1.7 kilograms of heroin at his restaurant in Jakarta.

“This research got to the root of the problem that makes capital punishment no longer relevant in Indonesia,” Afif Abdul Qoyim, a lawyer for Jefferson, said in response to the Oxford University survey.

He alleged wrongful conviction against his client, steaming from "improper police investigation" when they searched Jefferson’s property in August 2003.

“Jeff was cooperative and willingly present at the scene during the search. He could have fled if he wanted,” Abdul said, calling his former client by nickname.

“The narcotics found at his property didn’t belong to him, but the judges wouldn’t take that into consideration, leading to his execution,” he said, adding that racial sentiment could have influenced the judges.

Murders and terrorism are other crimes punishable by deaths under the Indonesian criminal justice system.

Source: Jakarta Globe, Staff, June, 2021

🚩 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

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

Two Germans to be caned, jailed for Singapore train graffiti

"Singapore: Disneyland with the death penalty" A Singapore court sentenced two Germans to nine months in prison and three strokes of the cane on Thursday after they pleaded guilty to breaking into a depot and spray-painting graffiti on a commuter train carriage. Andreas Von Knorre, 22, and Elton Hinz, 21, both expressed remorse while being sentenced in the state courts of the island republic. “This is the darkest episode of my entire life,” said Von Knorre. “I want to apologise to the state of Singapore for the stupid act ... I’ve learnt my lesson and will never do it again.” Hinz added: “I promise I will never do it again. I want to apologise to you, and my family for the shame and situation I’ve put them into.” Both were dressed in prison uniform — a white T-shirt and brown trousers with the word “Prisoner” down the sides and on the back. They spoke to the court in English. Singapore sentences hundreds of prisoners to caning each year as part of a syst...

Tibetan protesters executed for Lhasa riot killings

Tibetan exiles have reported the first executions of those convicted for rioting last year in Lhasa, with at least two people put to death in a rare implementation of capital punishment in the restive region. Two Tibetans convicted of arson and sentenced to death in April were executed on Tuesday morning in Lhasa, reported The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, which is based in the Indian town of Dharamsala—the home in exile of the Dalai Lama. It said that Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak had been sentenced to death for their part in setting fire to five shops in the Tibetan capital, killing seven people, in the riot that rocked Lhasa in March last year. Officials say that 21 people — including three Tibetan protesters — died in the violence, which embarrassed Beijing just as it was preparing to stage the Olympic Games and prompted a security crackdown across the Himalayan region. The body of Mr. Gyaltsen had been returned to his family and then submitted to a river burial—an un...

Indiana | ‘Dignity’ is a poor excuse for blocking press access to state executions

Indiana law says that the press has no right to be present when the state carries out executions. It limits those who can attend to the warden of the prison where the execution is carried out, immediate family members of the crime victim, no more than five friends or relatives of the convicted person, the prison physician, and the prison chaplain. Only if an inmate selects a member of the press as one of the five friends may they attend.

Iran: Delara Darabi has now been scheduled for execution

Delara Darabi has now been scheduled for execution, according to the Iranian newspaper Etemad on 18 April, according to another source on 20 April. She was convicted of murdering a relative when she was 17. Unless the Judiciary intervenes, she can now escape execution only if the woman’s entire family accept payment of diyeh, or blood money. One of the familly is said to be undecided. Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibit the use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: - expressing concern that Delara Darabi is in imminent danger of execution for a crime committed when she was under 18; - calling on the authorities to halt the execution of Delara Darabi immediately, and commute her death sentence; - reminding the authorities that Iran is a state part...

Florida death row inmate wants DeSantis to attend his pending execution

Dennis Michael Sochor is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday, the 29th person executed by the state in the past 19 months. Dennis Michael Sochor, convicted of strangling an 18-year-old woman he met at a New Year’s celebration in a Broward County bar 44 years ago, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday at Florida State Prison. His last wish? To have Gov. Ron DeSantis personally observe his execution up close and personal.

Florida | Former prison warden who oversaw executions urges corrections workers to not participate in them

Recently Florida carried out the execution of Dusty Spencer , a 74-year-old Marine veteran, for the murder of his wife, Karen, in 1992. It was the ninth Florida execution this year. For their own sake, I urge Florida’s corrections workers to refuse to carry out another one. Before you dismiss me as some soft lefty, you should know that I am an Air Force veteran. I voted for Ron DeSantis for governor twice—and for Donald Trump for president three times.

As Idaho Reinstates Firing Squad, Volunteers Sought for Executions

The state becomes the first in the U.S. to make the firing squad the standard method of capital punishment Idaho is opening a new phase in the administration of capital punishment in the United States, returning to the firing squad as the default method of execution. The decision reintroduces a system that has been abolished or abandoned in most of the country and is now being reorganized through a formal and highly structured framework. The new death penalty protocol State authorities have begun recruiting volunteer law enforcement officers to take part in executions. The operational model includes three primary shooters assigned to carry out the execution, two alternates, and one operations coordinator. All participants will remain anonymous, known only to the prison warden and deputy warden.

Iraq: Saddam Hussein Execution was Moved Forward Because of Gaddafi Rescue Plans, Judge Says

Saddam Hussein's execution on December 30, 2006 The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was accelerated due to the belief that the then Libyan leader, Muammar El-Gaddafi, had a plan to rescue him from prison, Judge Mounir Haddad revealed today. Hadad, who presided over the trial of Hussein, revealed to the Al-Arabiya Satellite Channel Point of Order program new details of the trial against the former president and his last moments before being hanged, including the 'health and welfare' votes for the magistrate himself . According to his testimony, the application of the death penalty to Saddam Hussein was precipitated because authorities knew that El-Gaddafi - later murdered in 2011 - was allegedly trying to bribe US guards who guarded him to rescue him from prison. He added that, contrary to previous reports from the local and US press, former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani gave his 'implicit approval' for Hussein's execution, an...

Iraq: German schoolgirl, 17, turned jihadi bride escapes death penalty and is jailed for six years

GERMAN Jihadi bride Linda Wenzel has been jailed for six years in Baghdad for her role as an Islamic enforcer with terror group ISIS. Wenzel, 17, who last year sobbed on TV “I have ruined my life,” could have faced the death penalty. German media reported that a German embassy representative in Iraq was in court yesterday to witness her sentencing. She received five years for joining IS and one year for entering Iraq illegally. Wenzel was found in the rubble of IS stronghold Mosul back in the summer of 2017. Charges were laid against her and three other German women captured with her. Schoolgirl Wenzel fled to Turkey then into Syria last year from her hometown of Pulsnitz in eastern Germany after being groomed online by a Chechen IS fighter who she married. He was killed in the savage fighting for Mosul while she was employed by the terror group enforcing the strict Islamic dress code on women in the city. She burst into tears after her capture and said s...

We Asked Ohio’s Death Row What They Think of Governor’s Death Penalty Reversal

Like Gov. Mike DeWine, most agreed the death penalty is broken and does not deter crime, but not always with the same reasoning. Some people on Ohio’s death row praised Gov. Mike DeWine for having the courage to come out against the death penalty. Others said actions speak louder than words, and they want the governor to commute their death sentences to life without the possibility of parole. But all agreed with the governor on one thing: Ohio’s death penalty law is broken. DeWine said long delays in carrying out executions undermine its intended function as a deterrent. Condemned prisoners resoundingly said that the possibility of being executed never stopped anyone from committing murder.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog