The death penalty is an extremely controversial application of justice that’s been largely outlawed in the developed world.
Per figures from Amnesty International reported by the BBC, it’s most prolifically practised in 11 countries including China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, the US, Vietnam, and Yemen.
The eleventh cited by Amnesty is North Korea which it believes regularly issues capital punishment, although it can’t verify the scale of it in the heavily censored state.
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Other countries practise it, including Japan, but it is generally viewed as an outmoded form of justice that’s rife with ethical issues.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, at least 200 people since 1970 have been found innocent of the crimes for which they were sentenced to the death penalty. This highlights the awful risk that someone may be executed only to later be exonerated when more information comes to light.
As the case of Andrew Malkinson recently demonstrated, people who have been considered guilty for decades can later be proven innocent. It is a tragedy that any innocent person could be held in prison for any length of time, let alone if an innocent person is put to death for a crime they didn’t commit.
Nevertheless, various US states still practise capital punishment, and around 2,200 people in the US are awaiting execution after being sentenced to death.
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In February this year, Demetrius Terrence Frazier’s long wait for his state-sponsored execution came to a close. He was convicted in 1996 for crimes he had been committing from 1991, most notable the rape and murder of 40-year-old Pauline Starks Brown when he was 19-years-old.
In 1992, he also murdered 14-year-old Crystal Kendrick in Detroit, Michigan.
When he was tried in 1996, he was found guilty of a further two rapes.
Having been held prisoner for 29 years, Frazier was killed with nitrogen gas in February after having ordered his last meal.
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It’s a common practice in the US to offer death row inmates a final meal of their choice, and 52-year-old Frazier’s pick was Taco Bell.
He reportedly washed down the Mexican-inspired fast food with Mountain Dew. Soon after, he was strapped to a chair and a nitrogen mask was placed over his face, ending his life.
"I want to apologise to the family and friends of Pauline Brown,” he said in the moments before his death.
"What happened to her should have never happened."
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He then said to Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan: "If you cannot stand up for the constitution of Michigan, how are you going to stand up for the US Constitution when you run for president?" Here he was likely referring to the fact that the death penalty is not legal in the state of Michigan, having been abolished in 1846 before enshrining the law in its state constitution in 1963. He was executed in Alabama where capital punishment is still legal.
Finally, he said: "Detroit strong, I love everyone on death row.
"Let’s go."
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After his execution was completed, Alabama’s governor, said: "You don’t come to our state and mess with our citizens and get away with it."
She continued: "Rapists and murderers are not welcome on our streets, and tonight, justice was carried out for Pauline Brown and her loved ones."
Rachael Davis