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Stanley Fauldner, a Canadian citizen, was party to a botched
robbery that took the life of an elderly woman in Texas. He was not
given the assistance of the Canadian Consulate in the USA. His sister,
in Jasper, Alberta did not know where he was or what was happening
to him. The lawyer assigned to his case was later disbarred. Stanley
was imprisoned for over 20 years and finally executed in June 1999.
Living under a cloud of imminent death for that long is torture, and
punishment enough. During Stanley's time in prison he was a model
prisoner who later became a prison chaplain. He was reformed and
could have become a productive member of society if given the
chance. When Governor Bush was asked for clemency, the response
was ' No'. Is it any different when the state kills than when a person
kills?
There are more than 4,000 people on death row in the United
States. For each capital case the cost is excessive due to the lengthy
legal process. In Canada, the average cost of a case would be one
million dollars and in the USA it is between one and three million
dollars. This cost is approximately three times that of incarcerating a
person for a life sentence.
What about the situation in other countries? Seventy- six
countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all
crimes. Sixteen have abolished it for all but exceptional crimes such as
wartime crimes. Twenty countries can be considered abolitionist in
practice, meaning that they retain the death penalty in law but have not
carried out any executions in the past 10 or more years. This makes a
total of 112 countries, over half the countries in the world. There are 83
countries that retain the death penalty but those that actually execute
prisoners in any given year are much less.
Although these statistics are good news, if you happen to be
someone like William Samson, working in Saudi Arabia and
subsequently arrested and tortured into confession of a crime you did
not commit, it is of little comfort. He was sentenced to death in a trial
that did not meet international standards of fairness. Being in jail in a
foreign country with little or no knowledge of how the system works, or
of the language, must be truly terrifying. Two years of imprisonment,
torture and not knowing whether his death sentence would be enacted,
passed before William Samson was released. He is now free, although
no doubt he will be scarred for life.
Other prominent international cases come to mind. Surely no
one could ever imagine that giving birth to a baby while divorced could
mean a sentence of death. It did for Amina Lawal in Nigeria. Women's
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Write On! |
| Language | en |
| Date | 2004 |
Description
| Title | Page 11 |
| Language | en |
| Transcript | Stanley Fauldner, a Canadian citizen, was party to a botched robbery that took the life of an elderly woman in Texas. He was not given the assistance of the Canadian Consulate in the USA. His sister, in Jasper, Alberta did not know where he was or what was happening to him. The lawyer assigned to his case was later disbarred. Stanley was imprisoned for over 20 years and finally executed in June 1999. Living under a cloud of imminent death for that long is torture, and punishment enough. During Stanley's time in prison he was a model prisoner who later became a prison chaplain. He was reformed and could have become a productive member of society if given the chance. When Governor Bush was asked for clemency, the response was ' No'. Is it any different when the state kills than when a person kills? There are more than 4,000 people on death row in the United States. For each capital case the cost is excessive due to the lengthy legal process. In Canada, the average cost of a case would be one million dollars and in the USA it is between one and three million dollars. This cost is approximately three times that of incarcerating a person for a life sentence. What about the situation in other countries? Seventy- six countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Sixteen have abolished it for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes. Twenty countries can be considered abolitionist in practice, meaning that they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions in the past 10 or more years. This makes a total of 112 countries, over half the countries in the world. There are 83 countries that retain the death penalty but those that actually execute prisoners in any given year are much less. Although these statistics are good news, if you happen to be someone like William Samson, working in Saudi Arabia and subsequently arrested and tortured into confession of a crime you did not commit, it is of little comfort. He was sentenced to death in a trial that did not meet international standards of fairness. Being in jail in a foreign country with little or no knowledge of how the system works, or of the language, must be truly terrifying. Two years of imprisonment, torture and not knowing whether his death sentence would be enacted, passed before William Samson was released. He is now free, although no doubt he will be scarred for life. Other prominent international cases come to mind. Surely no one could ever imagine that giving birth to a baby while divorced could mean a sentence of death. It did for Amina Lawal in Nigeria. Women's |
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