Indonesia vowed to expedite the execution of drug smugglers. As a result of this call to push for the executions to be carried out, there were riots in Indonesia's maximum security prison. Prisoners are moved from Kerobokan to this island prison when their executions are pending. The riot was believed to have been caused by, or in sympathy for two Nigerian men who received their death warrants the day that the announcement was made to speed up executions.
The two men were shot 2 days later in a tragic conclusion to an incredibly tense week in Indonesian prisons. It's a chilling reminder that even though the appeals can last for years, the threat of death is very real, and handed down with cold blooded efficiency.
I don't need to spell out just how damaging this is to our Australians on death row in Indonesia. Only 3 of the Bali 9 are left on death row – Scott Rush, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. The three of them are yet to lodge their judicial review appeals which proved successful for Chen, Norman and Nguyen.
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Perhaps the biggest news, but not so close to home, was the decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana by the Supreme Court of the United States.
The full judgment can be found here.
In Kennedy v. Louisiana the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the 8th Amendment of the Constitution (cruel and unusual punishment) prohibits executions for the crime of rape of a child under 13 in a 5/4 decision.
It has been widely criticised in America by both presidential candidates, McCain and Obama. Whether or not Obama is simply paying lip service to the death penalty in order to keep the conservatives on side is yet to be seen. The decision is seen to be judicial activism at its worst, with the majority finding that "developing standards" do not adhere to the ultimate punishment applying to non-fatal rape.
Alot of opinions I have read on the matter maintain that the elected representatives in Louisiana have been robbed of their right to represent the people of Louisiana by the subjective morals of five rogue justices. Interestingly, in all my time in New Orleans, Louisiana, most people I spoke to were entirely unaware that the death penalty applied to the crime of rape.
It is a challenging question; What severity of crime warrants the ultimate penalty? For an abolitionist, combating this question take some mental acrobatics. Comparing the suffering of different victims is always bound to raise objections. Many retentionists see this decision as a "green light" to paedophiles and a slap in the face to child rape victims, but it is just not that simple.
I'll save this question for my next blog entry. You'll have to forgive the lateness of this post, but after writing a 5000 word essay on the death penalty my creativity and passion was totally drained.
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