Neil Entwistle again...

[Haggisdj]

I know that Britian will not extradite anyone to a country that has the death penalty. Surely someone who is aware of this could commit the crime then flee here.

Do you think that if a person commited a cime where they knew what the sentence would be, they should be returned to that place?

[Englishbird]

To answer your question directly, then yes I think they should be returned to, and face the law and culture of the country where they committed the crime.

Having said that, could I, personally, send someone back somewhere where I knew that they would not receive a fair trial and where they would be killed regardless? probably not.

Mind you, receiving a fair trial and receiving the death penalty are two separate issues. If you sent someone to a country where both were likely, then you're acting as jury and executioner.

In this case, I would imagine that the British Government would not say that Neil Entwistle would receive an 'unfair' trial in America, therefore he should be returned and deal with the consequences.

[Pajama Girl]

Yes, if the person could receive a fair trial and have reasonable legal punishments.

UNREASONABLE legal punishments could be amputation of hands, stoning for adultery, flogging for graffiti, or slow death by hanging on a meat hook. We in the West would not agree to allow even the most guilty to be punished in this way, even after a fair trial.

But the sticky wicket is: when a country outlaws the death penalty (like the UK) because it deems it cruel and unusual, then the fleeing suspect as is a citizen of that nation has protection from the death penalty.

I agree. Although I believe in the death penalty when it is regulated and circumscribed (as it is in the US), still I think that a nation has the right to expect that its citizens be protected from punishments that are not acceptable.

So if we want to protect our citizens from punishments which we would deem unreasonable, we have to give the same respect to other nation's views on unacceptable punishments.

(What will happen in the Entwhistle case is that the US will promise that Entwhistle will not face the death penalty. The US prosecutor has discretion on the penalty recommendation.)

[Pajama Girl]

Ooops. Sorry for the second post. Britain will indeed extradite Entwhistle to the US because the prosecutor has promised he will not envoke the death penalty. It may take a while to send him to the US but Entwhistle will be extradited.

[luckyboy]

IN massachusetts, a first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. so in this case the issue of not extraditing him back because of the death penalty does not imply.