Category: death penalty

Humanists can be human, too

July 19, 2010 by Edmund Gall

The death penalty has re-surfaced as a topic of national discussion due to a recent comment by the Hon. Minister of Works and Transport, who was Ag. Prime Minister at the time. The T&T Humanist Association (TTHA) issued a formal response, before TTHA representative and columnist Kevin Baldeosingh wrote his own column and appeared on a breakfast talk-show.  The TTHA stated that it is against the retention of the death penalty as a legal option. While, as Mr. Baldeosingh said, the TTHA arrives at its positions after rational assessment of the evidence available, I question, based on some of their statements, whether they have arrived at the right conclusion on this issue despite failing to apply logic as effectively as they would wish.

Firstly, the TTHA's official response noted the comparative experiences of Canada, which abolished the death penalty in 1976, and USA which re-instated the death penalty in the same year after a 10-year moratorium. TTHA stated that American homicide rates rose after 1976, while Canada's declined. It offered this as evidence to support its argument that carrying out the death penalty fails to reduce crime. However, the TTHA forgot to mention the possibility that other factors could have influenced the results in both countries. For example, were there any differences in population demographics, cost of living, average wealth, education, laws and murder detection methods that may have influenced the differing murder trends? {Read more}

Should T&T retain the death penalty? – Part 3 of 3

November 1, 2009 by Edmund Gall

Continued from:

• Should T&T retain the death penalty? – Part 1 of 3
• Should T&T retain the death penalty? – Part 2 of 3

The term 'death penalty' is a literary iceberg - two words that hide a huge amount of detail beneath the surface.  When I attempted to discuss this in the past, it bore little fruit because either folks assumed I had confrontational motives, or they were too emotional to explain their thoughts, or they wanted to address so many issues, that they were all over the shop in terms of coherence.

I believe there are cogent arguments for and against the death penalty, and others that are less logical.  I think folks too often rely on the illogical ones, thinking that quantity of supporting points is more important than their individual quality. These are then quoted wholesale as if impervious to challenge, but when questioned, the rationale given is feeble.

In this three-part post, I explore some of these arguments and state my opinion of them.  At this time, I believe that there is a case for the retention of the death penalty in T&T, with some modifications to the current implementation.  Let me know your views. {Read more}

Should T&T retain the death penalty? – Part 2 of 3

October 31, 2009 by Edmund Gall

Continued from:

• Should T&T retain the death penalty? – Part 1 of 3

The term 'death penalty' is a literary iceberg - two words that hide a huge amount of detail beneath the surface.  When I attempted to discuss this in the past, it bore little fruit because either folks assumed I had confrontational motives, or they were too emotional to explain their thoughts, or they wanted to address so many issues, that they were all over the shop in terms of coherence.

I believe there are cogent arguments for and against the death penalty, and others that are less logical.  I think folks too often rely on the illogical ones, thinking that quantity of supporting points is more important than their individual quality. These are then quoted wholesale as if impervious to challenge, but when questioned, the rationale given is feeble.

In this three-part post, I explore some of these arguments and state my opinion of them.  At this time, I believe that there is a case for the retention of the death penalty in T&T, with some modifications to the current implementation.

Let me know your views.

State executions desensitises the public {Read more}

Should T&T retain the death penalty? – Part 1 of 3

October 30, 2009 by Edmund Gall

The term 'death penalty' is a literary iceberg - two words that hide a huge amount of detail beneath the surface.  When I attempted to discuss this in the past, it bore little fruit because either folks assumed I had confrontational motives, or they were too emotional to explain their thoughts, or they wanted to address so many issues, that they were all over the shop in terms of coherence.

I believe there are cogent arguments for and against the death penalty, and others that are less logical.  I think folks too often rely on the illogical ones, thinking that quantity of supporting points is more important than their individual quality. These are then quoted wholesale as if impervious to challenge, but when questioned, the rationale given is feeble.

In this three-part post, I shall explore some of these arguments and state my opinion of them.  At this time, I believe that there is a case for the retention of the death penalty in T&T, with some modifications to the current implementation.

Let me know your views.

The wrong persons have been executed

One of the stronger reasons for abolishing the death penalty is the potential for executing the wrong person.  There is credible evidence of such cases in the past, particularly from the US. {Read more}