It is bad that a committee of UN General Assembly voted in favour of a resolution for suspension of death penalty worldwide: 99 countries voted in favour of the resolution, 52 against and 33 abstained.
European countries, mainly Italy, led the charge against death penalty. Murders take place all over Europe. Mafia is active in Italy and they have carried out murders in Germany. In Russia someone wanted to commit 64 murders, one murder for each square on chess board. He committed 63 murders and was caught before he could commit 64th murder. Terrorists are active in Europe. Madrid train bombings killed 199 people. Not to carry out death penalty in such cases is unjust.
Every death penalty for murder prevents three to eighteen murders. The source is an Associated Press report dt. 11 June 2007 that can be accessed on www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19160965.
The report points to a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.
It quotes Naci Mocan, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. “Science does really draw a conclusion. It did. There is no question about it. The conclusion is there is a deterrent effect.â€
“The results are robust, they don’t really go away. I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) — what am I going to do, hide them?â€
Statistical studies like his are among a dozen papers since 2001 that suggest capital punishment has deterrent effects.
In 1970s economist Isaac Ehrlich had also concluded that executions deterred future crimes. His 1975 report was cited in papers before the U.S. Supreme Court arguing for a reversal of the court’s 1972 suspension of executions. The court, in 1976, reinstated the death penalty.
Why the countries against death penalty have armed forces? War means killing people. Many times civilians die in bombings. Many European countries have armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. How can they oppose death penalty and fight wars?
European countries allow abortion. In cases like rape and to save mother’s lfie, abortion is right. These countries allow abortion in all cases. They are concerned about the lives of murderers but not about the unborn.
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