Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

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fountainhall

Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by fountainhall »

Nothing to do with the reliability of evidence/convictions. Important, I suggest, by providing further evidence of reasons why corruption makes it not only very difficult to obtain just convictions, but also to bring known culprits to justice.
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Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote:but also to bring known culprits to justice.
Such as the current occupant of the White House?
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Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by Undaunted »

Gaybutton wrote:
fountainhall wrote:but also to bring known culprits to justice.
Such as the current occupant of the White House?
No charges yet against Trump, but there is a different justice system for Thailand's elite such as the Red Bull heir.
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Jun

Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by Jun »

fountainhall wrote:
Jun wrote:I think execution is the optimum solution, IF the person concerned has committed multiple brutal murders AND the conviction is completely reliable . . . Of course, on the other hand, if there is any element of corruption in the investigating or prosecuting bodies, then of course there is a risk of some serious errors.
Aren't there several problems here? In how many cases where people have been accused of capital crimes in Thailand can anyone truthfully say the conviction is "completely reliable"? And in how many cases can it be said that there is no "element of corruption" by the investigating and/or prosecuting bodies?
This is why my post had caveats in it, including those in capitals.
I've read enough reports about corruption and even seen it in action, with the BIB counting out the brown notes after visiting a gogo bar.
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Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by Undaunted »

For those that do not know what a deterrent is well it simply means a way to stop something from happening, the following link is all about if the death penalty is actually a deterrent...oh yes, I've already given you a definition of the word "Deterrent".

https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/pos ... -deterrent
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Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by Gaybutton »

Poll: Majority want to keep death sentence

23 Jun 2018

An overwhelming majority of Thais support execution as a penalty for abominable crimes, according to an opinion survey.

Superpoll conducted a survey of 1,123 people from June 19-22. It asked questions about constitutions, democracy and capital punishment. On the death penalty, 93.4% of the respondents think the capital sentence should be kept for cruel murderers. Interestingly, the approval rates seem to link closely with age. It is the highest among those aged 60 or more (96.6%), followed by the 25-59 age group (93.6%) and those aged 24 or younger (87.5%).

A majority of 90.2% also support the chief of the Corrections Department in enforcing the punishment.

The department earlier this month staged its first execution in nine years, putting to death by lethal injection a man who had savagely stabbed a teenager 24 times for his phone and some cash in 2012.

Full story: https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... h-sentence
fountainhall

Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by fountainhall »

Gaybutton wrote:Poll: Majority want to keep death sentence

23 Jun 2018

An overwhelming majority of Thais support execution as a penalty for abominable crimes, according to an opinion survey.

Superpoll conducted a survey of 1,123 people from June 19-22. It asked questions about constitutions, democracy and capital punishment
"Overwhelming majority"? That's nuts! I wonder why anyone, especially editors, thinks they can believe the finding of any poll that surveys a piddling 1,123 people when there are almost 70 million in the country. We know nothing about these few respondents apart from their age range. Was it countrywide? How were they chosen? Given how pollsters have proven so utterly wrong so often nowadays when they present their poll evidence based on far greater numbers re major national questions in other parts of the world, who can give any credibility to this particular poll?

Those who do believe the poll results would do well to look at another "finding". It "finds" a full 60% of the population of the country are either not sure or know nothing about democracy! So what happens when they go to the polls? Rhetorical question! We know that red notes, vast numbers of them, play a huge part in Thailand's democracy. How can any country call itself a representative democracy when only 40% really know what democracy means?

Then there is the "fact" that 50.9% do not not know what a constitution is and 68.3% have never read the latest one! Even without this poll, we know that Thailand has a great deal of work ahead both to spread the word about democracy and also to the strengthen its very fragile democratic institutions.

Then again, who believes poll results any more? :o
On knowledge about democracy, 40% say they know and can answer correctly what it is while 35.7% think they know but are not so sure while 24.3% say they don’t know what it is.
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Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote:"Overwhelming majority"?
Even if the poll really does accurately represent the 'overwhelming majority' opinion, the fact is Thailand hardly ever carries through with executions. The last one was 9 years ago.

Just who decided and why it was decided to go ahead with this one, I have no idea other than what mahjongguy said in his earlier post. There certainly have been plenty of terrible crimes over the past 9 years and the perpetrators were caught, tried, and sentenced to death, but the executions have not taken place.

Personally I would prefer to see life imprisonment as the maximum penalty. For especially violent murders I believe in the "supermax" type of prison. I would think having to spend the rest of one's life in such a place would be far worse than the death penalty.

But I also believe Jun has a valid point about the cost of keeping someone in prison for that length of time, especially if the person sentenced is young and still has a many decades long life expectancy.
fountainhall

Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by fountainhall »

When the vast majority of the country is corrupt in large or small measure, how can anyone state with any degree of justifiable confidence that an alleged criminal is innocent or guilty? Would any member here submit to Thai justice if accused unjustly of a capital crime? I wouldn't. I'd run - assuming I had the time to do so. In the case of the two Burmese mentioned above, even though the evidence was so tainted and unreliable - according to several experts, including the government's own DNA specialist - the accused were still found guilty by a small group of judges, mainly on the basis of alleged confessions which were later retracted. And who believes that political and other pressures were not exerted heavily on those judges, given high officials stating the need for quick justice to avoid the tourist industry being further tarnished. Case closed. Criminals apprehended.Off with their heads! And that's justice?
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Re: Thailand Resumes Executions in The Name of Peace

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote:And who believes that political and other pressures were not exerted heavily on those judges
I do. I don't see it your way. I don't buy into the idea that these boys were railroaded and that evidence was so tainted. What makes you so sure, news articles?

The parents and families of the victims were there for the entire trial. None of us were there at all. They are totally convinced these boys are guilty as hell. I can't imagine families of murder victims would want to see the wrong people convicted while the real murderers remain free. I can't believe they would sit still for it if they had reason to believe the boys were wrongly convicted.

I don't believe for a second that high officials would think falsely convicting these boys would help the tourist industry. If people believe the evidence was tainted to the point that none of the evidence was reliable, that the boys are actually innocent while the real killers are still out there and might attack others, how on earth does that help the tourist industry?
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