advertisement
Fri, May 25 2012
Blog: Europe's blindspot on the death penalty
Supporters of the death penalty celebrate after the execution of Timothy McVeigh in 2001, the perpetrator of the Oklahoma City bombing
Photo: Reuters
Back in 2003 my 72-year-old mother put out the rubbish in the Portuguese holiday resort of Albufeira. A British man - a presumed holidaymaker - but could have been a resident, approached her and asked for money. My mother had none on her. Who does have money on them when they put out the rubbish? So my mother politely declined.
The British man responded by punching her to the ground. When she was on the the ground the man kicked her in the head several times. My mother managed to crawl back into her flat where she lay bleeding and heavily concussed. Since that incident my mother has had trouble walking. Most of her teeth fell out and she has had crippling back and neck pain. Suffice to say, the quality of her life will never be what it was. My mother has required periodic nursing care at great cost. She can no longer travel abroad. This increases the financial burden on other family members.
A few years later she thought she saw her attacker again in the far distance in the street. Needless to say, she was petrified.
Her assailant was never caught.
In a statement released last month, the European Union noted today "its deep regret that, with the execution of Mr. Marvallous Keene by the State of Ohio on July 21, the United States has carried out its 1000th execution by lethal injection since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976".
In the statement The European Union called for the universal abolition of the death penalty, describing this punishment as "cruel and inhuman".
The UK is now a violent and lawless place where violent crimes - some of unparalleled sadism and violence - are now routine. So perhaps the liberals and chattering classes, hiding behind their Guardian newspapers, ought to bear in mind what happened to my mother. And perhaps they can answer this question. Do they believe that what happened to her amounts to "cruel and inhuman punishment"? If so, what do they believe would be a suitable penalty for the alleged human who carried it out?
The British man responded by punching her to the ground. When she was on the the ground the man kicked her in the head several times. My mother managed to crawl back into her flat where she lay bleeding and heavily concussed. Since that incident my mother has had trouble walking. Most of her teeth fell out and she has had crippling back and neck pain. Suffice to say, the quality of her life will never be what it was. My mother has required periodic nursing care at great cost. She can no longer travel abroad. This increases the financial burden on other family members.
A few years later she thought she saw her attacker again in the far distance in the street. Needless to say, she was petrified.
Her assailant was never caught.
In a statement released last month, the European Union noted today "its deep regret that, with the execution of Mr. Marvallous Keene by the State of Ohio on July 21, the United States has carried out its 1000th execution by lethal injection since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976".
In the statement The European Union called for the universal abolition of the death penalty, describing this punishment as "cruel and inhuman".
The UK is now a violent and lawless place where violent crimes - some of unparalleled sadism and violence - are now routine. So perhaps the liberals and chattering classes, hiding behind their Guardian newspapers, ought to bear in mind what happened to my mother. And perhaps they can answer this question. Do they believe that what happened to her amounts to "cruel and inhuman punishment"? If so, what do they believe would be a suitable penalty for the alleged human who carried it out?
-
Print
-
Send via email
- Translate to
-
Share:
Comments
To post comments, please, Login or Register.
Please read the The Sofia Echo forum comments policy.
European Union presses US on death penalty
The report reaffirms its absolute opposition and has subsequently praised countries that have decided to abolish the death penalty while calling for others still conducting it to reconsider.
More in this category
Move Russia’s capital from Moscow to Siberia?
Sergei Shoigu, the newly appointed governor of the Moscow Region, recently proposed that Russia move its capital to Siberia. The idea was immediately squelched.
Kremlin TV channel to US: No reset
RT seems to wish we were back in the USSR.
Blog: Time to end the UK's wacky welfare system
Some clergy suggested the UK government's proposal to cap annual state benefits at 26 000 pounds is 'unchristian'. Really?
Blog: On Worral Thompson and a shoplifter's motive
There is no such thing as a 'typical' shoplifter and there are many motives for people to steal.
Blog: Ed Miliband should never have challenged his brother
In essence Ed only has himself to blame; he set his stall to the Left of his brother and now seems lost as to what to do.
© 2000-2012, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.
Web Design by RIZN
Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted.
Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only
with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site.
Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com.
Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments.
The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the
price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes,
and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.
- Economedia Group portfolio:
- In Bulgarian:
-
Business:
Капитал,
Кариери,
Пазари,
Ho Re Mag,
Регал,
Градът.bg,
Одит,
Foton.bg,
Online shop
- News: Дневник, Европа, Foreign Policy - България
- IT: IDG.BG, Computerworld, PC World, CIO, Networkworld
- Entertainment: Бакхус
-
In English:
The Sofia Echo
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained реклама & спам
Valeri: I agree with your comment re theh tradition of violence in theh U.S. It always was, and still, a very violent nation.
Understanding that basis, I express my anger over the permanent Negro underclass responsible for the deadly violence in my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.
You will never get attacked by a white person in Baltimore. The attackers are ALWAYS Negro men. They seem to think they have a right to misbehave so.
Baltimore is such a wonderful place except for the fact that we are unfairly [...]
Read the full comment burdened with a huge amount of uncivilized and dangerous black trash.
The attack on the old lady with the trash wouldn't qualify for the death penalty in the US.
Even had she died, it would, only in some States.
In most that still have that option, pre-meditation is the standard.
The US has a tradition in violence long before the emancipation of the blacks. Guns were an important component of their culture throughout their short history.
The "cowboys" were real.
The person that attacked her, seems like a mental case. Being attacked by a mental case is [...]
Read the full comment close to what insurance companies call "act of God" - a disaster beyond human control....
America decided to expand civil equality to all of its citizens, whether or not they were worthy of it. We have a barbarian population that is uneducable (yes, they forced us to invent a word) and unemployable because of their hostile attitudes. Yet incredibly, they think they are owed a luxurious living by the greater society because of the past existence of slavery in the U.S. Please note that none of the people alive today ever experienced slavery, yet they still think they are "owed". Ridiculous.
to Herx - fair point, but what made the US that way ? Was it lax gun laws, or what ? (That awkward amendment to the US Constitution that entitles people to carry arms.)
Genuinely interested to know.
How about a death penalty that is deferred for 10 years in prison first just to make sure they got the right guy? Gives the victim's relatives time to organise that big party.
Gordon: Life is unfair. There will never be a perfect world. Use of DNA and other forensic advances however now make an incorrect conviction a very rare thing indeed.
If a wrongful execution should occur, that would be a tragic thing. But here in the US we have wrongful executions all the time. They are called murders.
We absolutely need the death penalty in the US. Europe may well be different. I can safely walk the city streets in the 8 EU cities in which I teach. That is not possible in [...]
Read the full comment the typical American big city. We have too many barbarians. You cannot negotiate with a barbarian. They understand only violence.
I accept no criticism from any European on this issue. You live in a different world. You do not understand the prevailing circumstances in the U.S.
Well - I can well see Gabriel Hershman's point. And it is infuriating when perpetrators of similar crimes against old people get out of prison in the UK after only a few years, after "remission"....
Against that, the death penalty is irrevocably terminal, especially when it subsequently turns out that the authorities have caught the wrong man !
No easy answer...
DNA mate... DNA.
cull all chavs
And how exactly do you propose to reverse a death sentence if it is later found that the wrong person was convicted?