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17/11/2009
Death Penalty Advocated By Former Judge
A senior retired judge has called for the death penalty to be reinstated in certain cases.
Mr Justice Richard Johnson, the former High Court president, said in an interview yesterday that the death penalty for certain kinds of murder, for example those committed during armed robberies, should be revisited.
He said: "I am not totally in favour of it. But it should be revisited. It would have to be for specific offences."
“The government should look at it, then if the people want it, they should have it.”
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties responded today and denounced the remarks as "deeply misguided and frivolous".
Mark Kelly of the council said that the death penalty was unlawful in every European Union and every Council of Europe state. If Ireland wished to reintroduce the death penalty, it could do so only at the cost of renouncing its membership of the European Union and the Council of Europe.
Meanwhile, Labour's spokesperson on Europe and Human Rights, Joe Costello, said that every government had a duty to protect the life of its citizens.
"It is wrong for a government to take the life of a citizen because that citizen may have taken the life of another citizen. The death penalty is brutal, it gives rise to irreversible miscarriages of justice and there is no evidence that it is an effective deterrent.
"It would be foolish to re-open the debate on the death penalty considering the proximity of constitutional and legislative decisions by the Irish people to abolish it.
Mr Costello said that conversely, as Ireland had a strong record on human rights it should be to the forefront in seeking abolition of the death penalty globally.
(DW/KMcA)
Mr Justice Richard Johnson, the former High Court president, said in an interview yesterday that the death penalty for certain kinds of murder, for example those committed during armed robberies, should be revisited.
He said: "I am not totally in favour of it. But it should be revisited. It would have to be for specific offences."
“The government should look at it, then if the people want it, they should have it.”
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties responded today and denounced the remarks as "deeply misguided and frivolous".
Mark Kelly of the council said that the death penalty was unlawful in every European Union and every Council of Europe state. If Ireland wished to reintroduce the death penalty, it could do so only at the cost of renouncing its membership of the European Union and the Council of Europe.
Meanwhile, Labour's spokesperson on Europe and Human Rights, Joe Costello, said that every government had a duty to protect the life of its citizens.
"It is wrong for a government to take the life of a citizen because that citizen may have taken the life of another citizen. The death penalty is brutal, it gives rise to irreversible miscarriages of justice and there is no evidence that it is an effective deterrent.
"It would be foolish to re-open the debate on the death penalty considering the proximity of constitutional and legislative decisions by the Irish people to abolish it.
Mr Costello said that conversely, as Ireland had a strong record on human rights it should be to the forefront in seeking abolition of the death penalty globally.
(DW/KMcA)
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