79 Pro Death Penalty Quotes by Politicians

Monday 17 June 2013 - President Goodluck Jonathan has urged state governors to give the seal of approval to death penalties handed down on convicts by the courts in their domains to encourage an atmosphere of discipline in the society.

Death penalty is against the currents in civilized world because the practice is an intolerable denial of civil liberties and inconsistent with the fundamental values of a democratic system.

But Jonathan at the Aso Rock Villa Chapel where he attended a special service to mark this year’s Fathers’ Day said that the governors ought to know that the job they were elected to do had both the sweet and the ugly parts.

The President said he has been urging the state governors to stop refraining from signing death warrants of criminals condemned to death by courts of competent jurisdiction.

“Discipline can be in various forms. In the states, it could be admonition. Magistrate can just admonish and allow an offender to go. From admonition to various forms of punishments; it could be imprisonment. The extreme is capital punishment.

“In the case of capital punishment, the state governors will sign. Even governors sometimes find it difficult to sign. I have been telling the governors that they must sign because that is the law. The works we are doing have a very sweet part and a very ugly part, and we must perform both. No matter how painful it is; it is part of their responsibilities.” Jonathan added.

The President urged fathers to ensure that they discipline their children when the err, stressing that the love they showered on their children may be in vain if the children were not properly brought up.

He said it was important for parents, particularly fathers, to continually impress it on their children on the need to be upright in all their endeavours.

Friday 20 January 2012 - At the time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his government's decision to abandon Smith was driven by concerns that lobbying for the killer's life would ``send the wrong signal'' to Canadians about violent crime.

``We have no desire to open the debate on capital punishment here in Canada - and likewise, we have no desire to participate in the debate on capital punishment in the United States,'' Harper insisted at the time. ``The reality of this particular case is that were we to intervene, it would very quickly become a question of whether we are prepared to repatriate a double-murderer to Canada. In light of this government's strong initiatives on tackling violent crime, I think that would sent the wrong signal to the Canadian population.'' 

But at a gathering in Taipei, Wu said: "Not all democratic countries have abolished death penalty."

He cited the United States and Japan as examples.

Taiwan has been working towards the goal of abolishing death penalty, he said, but "now is not the proper moment as various public surveys have indicated that at least 70 percent of local people still opposed the abolition of death penalty."

Also, he added, the serious crimes the four executed convicts committed "are even not tolerated by the gods, the executions meet the expectation of a great majority of our fellow countrymen."

“The executions of capital -punishment were in line with high social expectations and demand for a good public order in a country that respects the rule of law,” he said when approached for a comment on the concerns about the execution voiced by human rights groups.

“In order to stabilize public order and ensure public security, the death penalty should in no way be abolished,” he said.

Wu said that it was also his dream that the death penalty could be ended in the country when the day comes that “everyone has a heart of gold” and that it would make no difference whether capital punishment exists or not.

Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien yesterday (Monday 24 December 2012) reiterated his opposition to ending the death penalty and called on international human rights activists to refrain from advocating the abolition of capital punishment in Taiwan and elsewhere.

International human rights groups contribute to the advancement of human rights in every country in the world, Wang said.

“However, not everything they advocate for is the right thing to do. It’s absolutely wrong [to end the death penalty]. What kind of worldwide trend is this? It’s your business, keep track of it here,” Wang said.

Wang urged international human rights groups not to persuade other countries to abolish the death penalty because it is a matter of justice.

“Death-row inmates die from one or two gun shots and they are given anesthesia to reduce pain before they are shot so they don’t feel fear or dread, but for victims, they are full of horror during their suffering. Anti-death penalty activists talk about human rights for death-row inmates, what about human rights for victims?” Wang said.

He questioned the argument that the death penalty does not deter crime.

“If capital punishment is not an effective deterrent to crime, are imprisonment or life sentences effective? If that argument makes sense, why don’t we eliminate all penalties?” he said.

“We cannot abolish punishments on the basis of judicial errors.”

Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has informed the international community that Nigeria as a sovereign nation will always uphold its constitution.

He said this while reacting to the United Nations, European Union and others, over the hanging of the four armed robbers sentenced to death by hanging by the Supreme Court, the nation’s apex court.

Speaking at the second annual seminar on the “Role of Public Complaints Commission in a democratic Nigeria’ organized by the Public Complaint Commission, in Abuja on Thursday, the governor maintained that anyone who deliberately kill another deserves the capital punishment.

“We are part of the international community and my views must just be heard like the views of any other person. I am concerned about death, I am concerned about the sanctity of the human life and even as a Catholic I am even more fanatical about the sanctity of human life, he said.

“As a governor and I believe it is the statement of the European Union he (Ambassado David Macrae, head of delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS European Union) is talking about the rule of law, the rule of law is the fundamental of human right.”

He said during his swearing-in, he swore to obey the Nigerian constitution nd not resolutions, communiqué and recommendations of the international.

“The day I was sworn in, I subscribed to obey the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria there was no suggestion to me that I shall obey the resolution of the UN or the European Union.

Continuing, “I do understand that there is no such thing as universal values. As we speak nations and humans battle ideas on the basis of different value system and it will be abuse of my own right and my own value if some one thinks that his views are superior to my own value and views.

“I do not think that my values are less human and at any rate I will act according to my value that is why I took vow and I say to my brother Ambassador in trying to understand how best to protect the sanctity of human live, we must ask question is it better to pardon those who kill? If it is so, will it lead to more people being killed or should we tell the people that if you kill you don’t have the right to live,” he said.

The governor who said that Nigeria is a sovereign nation that struggled to gain independence so as to live according to the norms, values and culture of the people, regretted that those Nigerians who tried to raise eyebrow over the decision to execute the robbers, live on foreign handouts.

“I did not do what I did in Edo may be because President Goodluck wants me to do so, if President Goodluck Jonathan tells me to go and execute one that does not require it I will not. I will tell him I am the head of the state government.

“The reason is that both the president and myself are the creation of law and we are to abide by the Nigeria constitution. A guy went to rob, after robbing his victim he was not done, he brought out a cutlass and killed the guy, he was not done, he severed the head from the body and butchered the parts and buried them in different locations in other for people not to know that somebody was killed.

He said the police carried out a thorough investigation and the law took its cause.

“They arrested this guy, took him to take them where he buried the different parts and the matter passed through the Edo State High Court, to the Appeal Court and to the Supreme Court

“I have what is called prerogative of mercy but as a catholic I asked myself the ten commandments said that thy shall not kill and God who has the infinite right to forgive decided to create hell side by side heaven, those he forgive go to heaven those he did not forgive go to hell and if God should create hell, who am I so I refused to exercised my prerogative in favor of the robber so that the order of the supreme court could be carried.

“Why should we respect the right of a criminal, what of the right of the victim. In Edo State, if you kill and the law finds you guilty and convicts you, you will not live.”

Friday 18 October 2013 - Disturbed by the spate of kidnappings in Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday signed the Kidnapping Prohibition Law as amended into law. It prescribed the death penalty for kidnappers.

At the signing of the law, the governor said the state government would do everything within its powers to ensure the safety of life and property in the state.

According to him, “I have just signed into law a bill amending the Kidnapping Provision Law 2009 as amended by the state House of Assembly which now prescribes death penalty for anyone who is involved in any form of kidnapping.

“We have had enough laws in our statute books that provide for various degrees of punishment for various offences. I think the real challenge is about law enforcement and dealing with the problem of impunity. Laws will be worthless if we do not have the capacity to apprehend, interrogate, persecute and interrogate criminals and invoke the full weight of the law.”

“I am convinced that within the three arms of government of the legislative, the Judiciary and the Executive, we have a responsibility to make laws and enforce those laws in a way that would send clear signals to those involved in acts of criminality whether they are kidnappers, armed robbers, rapists that the security agencies now much more determined than ever before to ensure that this state becomes too hot for criminals to operate”, he said.

He assured the people that government is doing everything to make the state uncomfortable for criminals.

Wednesday 5 September 2012 - The ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye voiced the need to maintain the death penalty as it can serve as a strong warning against would-be criminals.

“Capital punishment should be maintained because it tells criminals that they too can die if they harm others,” said Rep. Park in a meeting with reporters.

On Wednesday, presidential frontrunner Park Geun-hye of the ruling New Frontier Party fanned the flame by saying that the country should keep the capital punishment.

“I think there is a need for the death penalty to continue to exist to warn a criminal convicted of inhumane and unacceptably horrendous crimes that he also could die,” she said.

“It is the law of the land and therefore I do not understand the debate,” Persad-Bissessar said. “The law is on our statute books. It is the rule of the law. We will act according to the rule of the law.”

“There is nothing wrong with people having personal views on issues, but at the end of the day it is the collective view that is the important one. At the end of the day it is the will of the people. That is the law of Trinidad and Tobago. Therefore the debate, in my respectful view, does not arise.”

In a statement to the House of Representatives yesterday (13 January 2011), however, the Prime Minister said: "This bill... seeks to plug some of the loopholes that have been exploited and manipulated by murderers who have been properly convicted and sentenced to death according to law."

Persad-Bissessar said the bill would categorise murders: Murder one, two and three. She said Government intends to restrict the mandatory imposition of the death sentence to murder one. This will include:

•A murder that is especially "heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity;

•A murder in which the deceased was intentionally killed because of race, religion, nationality or country of origin;

• The murder of a member of the security forces acting in the execution of his duties or of a person assisting such a member;

• Killing of a prison officer acting in the execution of his duties;

• The murder of a member of the security forces, prison officer, a judicial or legal officer directly attributable to the nature of his occupation;

• The murder of a witness or juror;

• Any murder committed by a person in the course of the furtherance of an arrestable offence;

• Contract murders—("murder committed pursuant to an arrangement whereby money or anything of value passes from one person to another"); and;

• Murders committed by bomb.

Persad-Bissessar said a person convicted of murder two shall suffer death —that is the same penalty for murder one—in certain circumstances. Those circumstances would be where a person has been convicted in Trinidad and Tobago of another murder, whether done on the same or different occasion, she said.

"This would be like a multiple murderer. This bill first seeks to categorize murders (one, two and three) and secondly seeks to overcome the hindrances to implementation of the death penalty arising out of various Privy Council decisions such as pretrial delay, post-trial delay, legitimate expectation that the Mercy Committee would consider the findings of an international body and prison conditions."

"There is no room for partisan politics when it comes to the fight against crime. Responsible and mature leadership is needed to rescue the nation from the abyss of crime," Persad-Bissessar said.

At a press briefing at the Coco Reef Hotel, Tobago, on September 2, 2010, about a month before the failed UN bid, Persad-Bissessar said of hanging, “The law is on our statute books. It is the rule of the law. We will act according to the rule of the law.”

Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, whose administration has the required parliamentary special majority to ensure passage of the new legislation, told legislators it was necessary to adopt a tough stance on murders since “in every tear shed by relatives of every murder victim there is a desperate cry for justice.

"Mothers have lost their sons and daughters, children are left motherless and fatherless. Homes left without incomes, families destroyed and forced into poverty and worse," she said, adding that "the war on crime cannot be won unless we use every weapon in our arsenal."

She called for action to save the nation from going over the criminal precipice. “We have been reduced to a society where the instinct of self preservation has kicked in and people read about murders as if it is in a foreign newspaper. We are afraid to be our brother’s and sister’s keeper and numbness in a different setting,” she said. “We are fed-up of reading these murder stories in our newspapers. They are a virtual cut and paste of yesterday’s story with a minor amendment, in terms of a name change. We are all uncounted walking statistics and live in fear, as criminals roam freely at our expense.”

"To this end my government is committed to implementation of the death penalty which remains part of the laws of Trinidad and Tobago...We shall continue in our effort to facilitate the re-implementation of the death penalty so it might both punish the guilty and deter the would-be offenders," she stated. [Friday 20 January 2012]

Persad-Bissessar said since her Government took office back in May 2010, it had been attempting to address "the tsunami of crime that has hit Trinidad and Tobago".

"We have pledged to the people of this country that we are going to rid the country the scourge of criminal elements which have been allowed for too long to thrive and prosper on the decent, innocent and hard-working people," she said.

“The Caribbean Basin is a major centre for transnational organised crime. The scourge of narcotics has long been in our region. Crime and violence have generated fear for all citizens. If we (T&T) are to be seen as an attractive destination for investors we must create an environment through law/order. It must be achieved as the maintenance of law and order to develop a safe, secure and resilient nation from a tsunami of crime. We need to return T&T to a law-abiding state.”

Persad-Bissessar said this was part of the law of T&T, and that the lack of support from the Opposition on the last occasion prevented it from going through. “We will try again because we have to find ways to reduce the crime rate.” Last January, Persad-Bissessar tabled legislation in the Parliament to amend the Constitution to remove major obstacles to the implementation of the death penalty. Although the Opposition stated that it subscribed to the law of the death penalty, it did not support the legislation. Persad-Bissessar also insisted the SoE was successful. “It worked. The murder rates went down last year in six years.”

“Those who commit serious crimes of terrorism, those who are trying to return our country to the fight of the 80's and early 90's, will face a firing squad.”

“The death penalty should be applied for rapists and murderers of young children.”

“The rape of a little boy causing his death is such an awful crime that has to be chastened by killing not only the criminal but showing to the society their heads.”

“There are certain crimes that must be paid with the criminal’s life.”

“I’m Catholic, I believe in life, but I also think there are mistakes, sometimes we have seen that our country is full of atrocities.”

The president also said that “in China last year 5000 criminals among rapists, thieves, corrupt mayors were executed.”

He also stated that “unless we take firm and severe measures against terrorism, common criminals, rapists the incidents will continue to happen”.

"I belong to those who believe that there are certain crimes that must be paid for with life," such as the rape or murder of children, Garcia told journalists Monday. "At least I would be prepared to cut off the heads of 50 rapists."

“We do our part, but others are also doing their part. The lawyers are doing their work, those that are to be hanged made reference to their lawyers, their lawyers got their papers together;  lodged them at the appropriate place which is the Court and as a result of that the sentencing – the hanging is put aside for now,” said Prime Minister Douglas.

“The wheels of justice must be seen to be turning and I give you a commitment again that those wheels will turn as long as I am in charge of this country,” said Dr. Douglas.

“Another life taken. It is a human life, but we have to be certain that there is a deterrent among our people in taking another man’s life. We have a resolve to deal with the issue of crime and violence in this country,” said Prime Minister Douglas in the National Assembly during debate of the 2009 Budget for the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Equatorial Guinea confirmed on Friday 27 August 2010 that it had executed four former military officers convicted of an armed attack on its presidential palace last year, saying they were an "imminent" security risk.

"These individuals were convicted and executed immediately due to the imminent danger against me, my family, and my government," President Teodoro Obiang Bguema said in a written statement.

"We hope the United States of America and the rest of the world understand the severity of the danger of the events that occurred on February 17, 2009 ... Equatorial Guinea still needs assistance from the United States of America and others."

Friday 25 March 2011 - The two accords went into effect in May 2009. They are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

"The two covenants have an exception. That's if there is a serious crime and the [convicts] are sentenced to death according to a law that was in place when they committed the crime. The two human rights laws do not impose an absolute ban on the death penalty," said Wu.

“I do think there are times, though they would be rare, where a crime is so horrific, and Clifford Olson epitomizes that, where capital punishment is justified and in fact necessary,” Day told Sun News Network Host Charles Adler. “In those cases where it’s absolutely proven that they are doing it, especially towards children, personally I think there is a case for capital punishment. I don’t think there’s words in the English language that appropriately describe the disgust and the revulsion we feel towards Clifford Olson, and the heartbreak we feel towards the parents.” [Thursday 22 September 2011]

On Friday 4 March 2011, Five death row inmates were executed in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung prisons late Friday after Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu signed their execution decrees earlier that day. The five -- identified as Kuan Chung-yen, Wang Kuo-hua, Chung Teh-shu, Wang Chih-huang and Chuang Tien-chu -- were convicted for serial robbery, murder, sexual assault, drug trafficking and arson. Three of them agreed to donate their organs, which is expected to benefit 16 people awaiting transplants. After the latest executions, 40 convicts remain on death row, according to the official tallies.

According to Tseng, the latest executions were of people "who had committed atrocious crimes and who had killed between three and five people."

Tseng said the five people executed had exhausted their avenues for retrial, constitutional interpretation, or extraordinary appeal and "there were no reasons not to execute them. We have to deal with them according to the law."

"It relates to our traditional culture and beliefs. There's a belief in the concept of karma, that what goes around comes around," Taiwan's Justice Minister Tseng Yung-Fu said. "The reality is, unless those who commit serious, irrational crimes are severely punished, people won't feel at ease."

“It is clear that ordinary jail sentences do not deter murderers. The Freedom Front Plus says only the death penalty will reduce the spate of murders in South Africa.”

Monday 25-07-2011 - “No effort will be spared to restore the safety of our streets and homes,” Christie said.

“An urgent priority for the next government is the battle against crime.  There is fear on our streets.

“Nearly 80 murders this year already and it’s still July.  This is a tragedy and it is a crisis and the current government is paralyzed.

“They are in over their heads, unable to take action, unable to meet their first priority to Bahamians.”

JOHANNESBURG, Jun 7, 2006 (IPS) - Frustrated with what they see as increasing lawlessness in South Africa, leaders from political parties such as the Freedom Front Plus, the Christian Democratic Party and the Pro-Death Penalty Party are united in one cause: that capital punishment needs to be reinstated.

Moreover, Botha said his party believed that the threat of death can deter crime: "I lived in Britain from 1960 to 1970 when the death penalty was there. There was less crime. Since they took away the death penalty, you hear (about) all sorts of crimes, including murders. The police also didn't use to carry guns. Now they carry guns."

Botha said he believed no innocent person would be executed, were capital punishment to be reinstated.

"The death penalty should be handled in a special way. It should never be applied without proper witnesses and processes," he said. "Give the person a chance and opportunity to prove his innocence."