Death Penalty News

In response to a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Taiwan that found the death penalty constitutional for offences such as murder, E-Ling Chiu, Director of Amnesty International Taiwan, said: “Today’s decision is a small step for human rights in Taiwan. The Constitutional Court has recognized the fundamental flaws of the death penalty and strengthened human rights protections for those on death row. Yet the death penalty remains on the books for several offences. This marks a start in Taiwan’s journey towards abolition, and we must ensure it does not stop here.

In July 2023, the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) released its report and position statement on mental health and the death penalty.  The issues addressed in the report include: the imposition of the death penalty on prisoners with mental illness or developmental and intellectual disabilities, the overrepresentation of death-sentenced prisoners who have been socioeconomically marginalized, and the role of psychiatrists in death penalty cases.

Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) is appalled by the short 2-week notice given to the family about the date of execution of a Malaysian in Singapore. It is only just and morally responsible that family and friends of persons to be executed, including children involved, be accorded an opportunity and the right to say final goodbyes to a loved one before he or she dies. The ‘to-be-executed’ may be guilty, but let’s not forget the rights of the family and his or her friends, who are innocent victims of the situation in which Singapore has full control. Hurdles to international travel During the Covid pandemic, when travel from Malaysia to Singapore is restricted, Singapore scheduled when Malaysian Nagaenthran Dharmalingam is to be hanged to death for drug trafficking. The family was informed through a letter (pictured) dated 26 October which stated: “Please be informed that the death sentence passed on your son Nagaenthran A/L K Dharmalingam, will be carried out on 10...

Man With Alleged Intellectual Disability Receives Death Sentence Scheduled For 10 Nov While the Singapore system believes in rehabilitation, certain crimes like drug trafficking can be subject to the heaviest punishment of a death sentence, often with little leeway for negotiation. On Thursday (28 Oct), activist Kokila Annamalai shared a Facebook post about Nagaenthran, who allegedly has an intellectual disability but was given the death sentence. His family, who resides in Malaysia, received a letter (pictured) informing them that his execution was scheduled for 10 Nov. This is how you're informed of when state murder of your child will take place in Singapore. Lawyer M Ravi said the execution of a mentally ill person is prohibited under human rights law and has arranged for an urgent meeting with Nagaenthran to try to save him. Execution scheduled on 10 Nov On Thursday (28 Oct), a letter received by Nagaenthran’s mother was shared in a Facebook post . The Singapore Prison Service...

A study on the mental illness and intellectual disability among death row prisoners has shown that over 62 per cent had at least one mental illness, half of them contemplated suicide in jail and experienced adverse childhood and traumatic life experiences. Project 39A, a criminal justice program at the National Law University Delhi, conducted a study on 88 death row prisoners, three female, and 85 male, and their families across Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh. The findings of the study titled "Deathworthy: A mental Health Perspective of the Death Penalty" presented empirical data on mental illness and intellectual disability among death row prisoners in India and the psychological consequences of living on death row. The report which was released after five years of research also established correlations between conditions of incarceration and ill-health. [ I don't need 5 years of research to correlate incarceration on death row and ill health/...

SINCE the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, Texas has exercised the law with singular gusto. Its 572 executions account for more than one-third of the nation’s total. Aside from executing the most prisoners, Texas does it with the least regard for human dignity, compassion, and constitutional standards. When the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of prisoners with mental disabilities in 2002, Texas responded by killing two death row prisoners — Marvin Wilson and Robert Ladd — with IQ’s below 70. Now, another clash between Texas and the U.S. Constitution shows, again, how Texas stands alone, even among death penalty states. On Sept. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the execution of John Henry Ramirez, 37, after Texas refused to allow a pastor to lay hands on Ramirez and pray during the lethal injection. Justices will hear arguments Nov. 1, on whether Texas violated Ramirez’s First Amendment right to freely exercise his religion. The pending U.S. Supreme Cou...

Montgomery, Alabama — Alabama is seeking to carry out what would be the first execution by a state in 2021, that of a 51-year-old inmate convicted of the shotgun slaying of a police detective's sister decades ago. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay blocking the Thursday night execution, but the state is expected to appeal that decision. Willie B. Smith III was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison for the 1991 murder of Sharma Ruth Johnson in Birmingham.  Prosecutors said Smith abducted Johnson, 22, at gunpoint from an ATM, stole $80 from her and then took her to a cemetery where he shot her in the back of the head. Judges on the 11th Circuit stayed the lethal injection to give time to consider defense claims that the state failed to give the man, who has an IQ of below 75, required assistance with forms impacting the timing of his execution.  The Alabama attorney general's office in court filings disputed that Smith is disabled an...

Texas’ top criminal court halted a man’s execution Wednesday, exactly 1 week before he was scheduled to die. Lawyers for Edward Busby, 48, had appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, arguing Busby’s execution would be illegal because he is mentally disabled, the Marshall Project reported. Busby was convicted of killing Laura Crane, 77, in January 2004 by stuffing her in a car trunk and duct taping her mouth shut, resulting in her suffocating to death. Crane, a retired professor at Texas Christian University, was abducted in Fort Worth and police found her body in Oklahoma. Busby’s prior appeals were rejected, according to court documents obtained by the Marshall Project, but his last ditch appeal for a stay was granted.  Busby’s intellectual disability claim will be reviewed by a lower court. Texas executed 3 people in 2020 and 9 people in 2019.  The state has yet to execute anyone in 2021. Busby’s execution was previously set for May 6, 2020, but was rescheduled beca...

Florida’s new conservative Supreme Court takes on its former self and the U.S. Supreme Court in death row cases There has been a real lack of “judicial restraint” lately in Florida. You may have heard this term, usually by those who decry “activist judges” for “legislating from the bench.” Unelected judges must be restrained from usurping the roles of elected representatives in the other two branches. That’s how the argument goes. But it’s usually the banner waved by its most egregious violators. Here’s an example close to home. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case styled Atkins v. Virginia , made a landmark ruling that the Eighth Amendment’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment prohibits states from executing mentally disabled inmates. The 6-3 decision, with the majority opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens, gave the states the authority to come up with a determination of mental disability. RELATED |  The Florida Supreme Court’s...

A Japanese man who was sentenced to death over the 2016 murder of 19 mentally impaired people at a care home near Tokyo said Wednesday he will not appeal the ruling. Satoshi Uematsu, a 30-year-old who formerly worked at the Tsukui Yamayuri En care facility in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, told Kyodo News even if his defense counsel files an appeal by the March 30 deadline, he will request it be dropped. "I kind of expected (the death penalty) but I'm not convinced (I deserve it)," Uematsu said. The Yokohama District Court ruled Monday that Uematsu is competent to be held criminally liable for his actions, in which 26 people were injured in addition to the 19 killed. "I think it is wrong to continue my trial at higher courts. I have found my own answer," Uematsu said, adding he feels "heavy-hearted" when he thinks of how difficult it will be for him to receive visitors once his death sentence has been finalized. Uematsu expres...

A Japanese man has been sentenced to death for a stabbing rampage in 2016 which resulted in the death of 19 disabled people at a care home. Satoshi Uematsu said people with disabilities who were unable to communicate well had no human rights, said broadcaster Kyodo. The 30-year old had once worked in the care facility, located near Tokyo. The case is one of Japan's worst mass killings and has shocked people in a country where violent crime is rare. In an earlier interview with Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, Uematsu had said there was "no point in living" for people with mental disabilities and that he "had to do it for the sake of society". The Yokohama District Court on Monday ordered him to death by hanging. Uematsu previously said he did not plan to appeal against any verdict or sentence. 'He abused marijuana' During the trial earlier this year, the former employee of the Sagamihara care home did not dispute...