APHR argues Government to replace Death Penalty with other forms of Punishment.

The Ministry of Rehabilitations and Prison Reforms has requested Ministry of Justice to consider changing the Death Penalty into a life sentence, reported in the Government owned Sinhalese News Paper Dinamina on 26^th April. According to the newspaper the Ministry has appointed a committee to examine the different way to replace Death penalty   as punishment.

 This media statement released by the Ministry,  in the context of rising  dissatisfaction and frustration among nearly 355 Death Row inmates in Welikada and Bogambara prisons, about their current deteriorating prison conditions and inhuman treatments received by themselves.  Very often, the Death Row inmates argue with the Prison Authorities to either Hang them or change their capital punishment in to a other form of  sentences  that allow Death Row Inmates  to move freely inside the prison and take part  with activities available for other convicted  prisoners. 

APHR want to recall that Sri Lanka is under defacto  moratorium since 1976 after the last official execution, and currently 76 states  out of 146 UNO member states are  already abolished Death Penalty and substitute the  the Capital Punishment with alternative conditions. 

APHR wish to argue that Government Authorities including Rehabilitation and Prison Reform Ministry should genuinely   committed  to revoking the Death Penalty form the Penal Cord. The death penalty is substituted with life imprisonment with the possibility of pardon or amnesty, conditional release or alternative means according to the  Human Rights stipulated in the Sri Lankan Constitution  and International Human Rights Law.

For more information Pl, contact:

Convener: prisonnotes@gmail.com

Connecticut Abolishes the Death Penalty

Wednesday, April 25, 2012
 USA Hartford, CT)  – Saying this is "a moment for sober reflection, not celebration," Governor Dannel Malloy(D) signed a bill Wednesday repealing the death penalty in Connecticut.

Citing his experience as a prosecutor and the "unworkable" nature of Connecticut's death penalty law, Malloy said his position in opposition to capital punishment has evolved over time.

A controversial aspect of the repeal is that it is "prospective." It does not apply to the eleven men currently on Connecticut's death row. Malloy acknowledged the inherent conflict, but said the inmates currently awaiting their executions are far more likely "to die of old age than they are to be put to death."

Recognizing the controversial nature of his decision (a Quinnipiac Poll released today says 62% of state residents favor the death penalty), Malloy issued an unusually long signing statement outlining his position.

Statement From Governor Dannel Malloy: 

"This afternoon I signed legislation that will, effective today, replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of release as the highest form of legal punishment in Connecticut. Although it is an historic moment – Connecticut joins 16 other states and the rest of the industrialized world by taking this action – it is a moment for sober reflection, not celebration.

"Many of us who have advocated for this position over the years have said there is a moral component to our opposition to the death penalty. For me, that is certainly the case. But that does not mean – nor should it mean – that we question the morality of those who favor capital punishment. I certainly don't. I know many people whom I deeply respect, including friends and family, that believe the death penalty is just. In fact, the issue knows no boundaries: not political party, not gender, age, race, or any other demographic. It is, at once, one of the most compelling and vexing issues of our time.

"My position on the appropriateness of the death penalty in our criminal justice system evolved over a long period of time. As a young man, I was a death penalty supporter. Then I spent years as a prosecutor and pursued dangerous felons in court, including murderers. In the trenches of a criminal courtroom, I learned firsthand that our system of justice is very imperfect. While it's a good system designed with the highest ideals of our democratic society in mind, like most of human experience, it is subject to the fallibility of those who participate in it. I saw people who were poorly served by their counsel. I saw people wrongly accused or mistakenly identified. I saw discrimination. In bearing witness to those things, I came to believe that doing away with the death penalty was the only way to ensure it would not be unfairly imposed.

"Another factor that led me to today is the 'unworkability' of Connecticut's death penalty law. In the last 52 years, only 2 people have been put to death in Connecticut – and both of them volunteered for it. Instead, the people of this state pay for appeal after appeal, and then watch time and again as defendants are marched in front of the cameras, giving them a platform of public attention they don't deserve. It is sordid attention that rips open never-quite-healed wounds. The 11 men currently on death row in Connecticut are far more likely to die of old age than they are to be put to death.

"As in past years, the campaign to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut has been led by dozens of family members of murder victims, and some of them were present as I signed this legislation today. In the words of one such survivor: 'Now is the time to start the process of healing, a process that could have been started decades earlier with the finality of a life sentence. We cannot afford to put on hold the lives of these secondary victims. We need to allow them to find a way as early as possible to begin to live again.' Perhaps that is the most compelling message of all.

"As our state moves beyond this divisive debate, I hope we can all redouble our efforts and common work to improve the fairness and integrity of our criminal justice system, and to minimize its fallibility."

Source:http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/2012/04/connecticut-abolishes-death-penalty.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DeathPenaltyNews+%28Death+Penalty+News%29

http://governorsjournal.com/2012/04/malloy-repeals-death-penalty-2/

ජීවිත සමාව-විසි අවුරුදු සිර දඬුවම යළි ක්‍රියාවට නැංවීම ගැන නිර්දේශ

බුද්ධිකා ඉඹුලාන

මරණ දඬුවම සහ ජීවිතාන්තය දක්වා සිර දඬුවම් නියම වූ සිරකරුවන්ට ජීවිත සමාව සහ විසි අවුරුදු සිරදඬුවම යළිත් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා වන නිර්දේශ ඇතුළත් වාර්තාවක් පුනරුත්ථාපන හා බන්ධනාගාර ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ අමාත්‍යංශය මගින් අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යංශයට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.
මේ දඬුවම් යළි සංශෝධන තුළින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට පුනරුත්ථාපන හා බන්ධනාගාර ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ ඇමැති චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජදීර මහතා කමිටුවක් පත් කළ අතර එම කමිටු වාර්තාව මෙසේ ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.
මේ යෝජනා ඇතුළත් කමිටු වාර්තාව අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යංශය මගින් ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා වෙත යොමු කෙරෙන අතර ජනාධිපතිවරයා මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලබාදෙන තීන්දුව මත දඬුවම පෙර තිබූ පරිදි ක්‍රියාවට නැංවෙයි.
වර්ෂ 1976න් පසු මරණ දණ්ඩනය ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවූ අතර එයින් පසු මරණ දණ්ඩනයට නියම වූවන්ද ජීවිතාන්තය දක්වාම බන්ධනාගාරගත කර තැබිණි.
මරණ දණ්ඩනයට නියමවූවන් යහපත් කල්ක්‍රියාවෙන් බන්ධනාගාර තුළ කල් ගත කිරීමේදී ඔවුනට ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ අවසරය මත ජීවිත සමාව හිමිවිය.
ජීවිතාන්තය දක්වා සිර දඬුවම් නියම වූවන් යහපත් කල්ක්‍රියාවෙන් බන්ධනාගාරය තුළ කටයුතු කිරීම තුළ එම දඬුවම 20 අවුරුදු කාල සීමාවේ සිට 10 අවුරුදු කාල සීමාව දක්වා වන නීති ක්‍රමයක් එතැන් පටන් ක්‍රියාත්මක විණි.
එහෙත් වසර 2002 දී මේ ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කළ අතර එයින් පසු මේ වර්ගයේ රැඳවියන්ට ජීවිත සමාව හෝ දඬුවම් කාල සීමා ලිහිල් කිරීමක් සිදු නොකෙරිණි.
මේ වනවිට වැලිකඩ සහ බෝගම්බර බන්ධනාගාර තුළ මරණ දණ්ඩනයට නියමවූ රැඳවියෝ 355 ක් සිටින අතර ජීවිතාන්තය දක්වා සිරදඬුවම් නියම වූවන් 243 දෙනෙක් සිටියි.
 Dinamina 2012 April 26th