Crime and Punishment

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#375: Crime and Punishment
WA General Assembly resolution
Category Human Rights
Strength Significant
Proposed by SchutteGod
Status Repealed
Adopted Sun Jun 5 2016
Votes For / Against 12,853 / 3,932

Crime and Punishment (abbreviated C&P) is a human rights resolution detailing the rights of convicts (specifically those condemned to die), and a blocker designed to fend off a WA ban on the death penalty. It is the third resolution primarily sponsored by SchutteGod. Drafted in secret with several GA members known to oppose a death-penalty ban, it proceeded to vote on June 1, 2016, and passed by a wide margin. It was repealed little more than two years later.

History

C&P originated from a controversy on the GA floor regarding the death penalty and what chances existed to ban it. Veteran legislator Christian Democrats, a devoutly Catholic nation which doubtlessly ascribed to the Church's condemnation of capital punishment, brought a repeal of Convention on Execution (which allows capital punishment) to vote, challenging the GA to replace it with an all-out ban on the death penalty. During the debate Glen-Rhodes, who had initially sponsored Convention on Execution, dramatically reversed its position and endorsed the repeal and a subsequent death-penalty ban. Several bans were being considered -- including one from fellow Catholic nation Auralia/Railana and another from Kaboomlandia -- but the Schutteans resolved to beat them all to the punch with a replacement explicitly allowing death as a punishment for serious crimes, while imposing strict regulations on the practice. The proposal suddenly appeared in the queue moments after CD's repeal passed, and even gained several prominent endorsements from death-penalty opponents, including CD themselves. Boosted by the support of several major delegates after going to vote, it garnered nearly 77% of all votes cast.

Repeal

By 2018, the culture within the GA had shifted, and an insurgent desire for an international ban on the death penalty was emerging. Crime and Punishment has been repealed as part of an ongoing project to achieve that goal. The repeal passed by fewer votes than the original resolution received when it was adopted.

Resolution text

The World Assembly,

Reasserting its authority to protect basic civil rights, including the rights of the accused and condemned for even the most heinous and monstrous of crimes,

Acknowledging the great division among member states as to the morality of capital punishment,

Respecting the rights of nations who view capital punishment as a violation of their deepest held beliefs, and seeking to preserve the rights of said nations to shield their accused from immoral punishments,

Contending that minimal restrictions should be imposed upon member states to ensure that punishments for serious crimes are carried out humanely,

Defining for purposes of this resolution, "execution," "capital punishment," and "death sentence (or penalty)" as the forfeiture of a person's life, as carried out by a state or an agent of the state, as a formal punishment for a crime, and

Specifying for purposes of this resolution, that "nonviolent crime" does not include any offense related to treason, espionage, mutiny, or criminal negligence causing physical death or injury;

Hereby:

1. Declares that member nations may employ capital punishment as a sentence for the gravest and most serious of offenses, provided that such sentences do not violate any relevant point of international law within this or any previous General Assembly resolution still in effect;

2. Forbids member nations from issuing criminal sentences disproportionate to the crime committed;

3. Forbids member nations from sentencing convicted persons to any sort of cruel or barbaric punishment, including any form of torture, or the infliction of intense psychological harm or physical pain or suffering short of death;

4. Forbids member nations from executing any person for misdemeanors or nonviolent crimes;

5. Forbids member nations from executing children, pregnant persons, or persons of limited mental capacity;

6. Forbids member nations from sentencing any individual to death without due process;

7. Forbids member nations from carrying out summary executions;

8. Requires member nations to ban any form of execution that involves any physical pain or suffering that would be unnecessary to achieve a quick and relatively painless death;

9. Requires member nations to take every possible measure to ensure that innocent people are never executed, and further requires members to conduct regular studies of death-penalty cases to verify that proper legal procedures are followed before convicted persons are put to death;

10. Requires member nations to delay any execution wherein the accused may have been denied essential legal protections during their trial or appeal process, and not to carry out any death sentence until it can be verified that the convicted person was not unfairly or unlawfully condemned;

11. Requires member nations to treat the bodies of executed persons with respect, and to prevent the improper handling or desecration of their remains;

12. Forbids member nations from extraditing criminals to other jurisdictions not affected by this mandate, for purposes of avoiding their obligations under international law.

See also

Source materials