Mexicans Should Restore the Death Penalty
Does Mexico need the death penalty? They have not executed anyone in Mexico for a civilian crime since 1937. But consider this that happened today:
MEXICO CITY – Gunmen mowed down the family of a Mexican marine just hours after the military honored him as a national hero for losing his life during a raid that took down powerful drug kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva.
The brazen attack happened shortly before midnight Monday at the home of fallen marine Melquisedet Angulo in the town of Paraiso in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, police said.
Hit men linked to Beltran Leyva’s cartel have a strong presence in the state and are believed to be behind the slayings of Angulo’s mother, his two siblings and his aunt, federal officials said Tuesday.
Murderers like this deserve the death penalty.
What is the view of ordinary Mexicans regarding the death penalty? It is as you might guess - they believe, like most Americans, that the worst of murderers should get what they deserve:
A large majority of people in several countries, including the United States and Mexico, support the death penalty, according to a poll by Ipsos-Public Affairs released by the Associated Press. 71 per cent of respondents in Mexico and 69 per cent in the U.S. back the idea of sentencing convicted murderers to death.
But would the death penalty really help reduce the number of murders in Mexico? Based on recent studies , it appears that the death penalty does indeed deter murderers.
Mexico not having a death penalty impacts us too in the US. A lack of a death penalty increases violent crime in Mexico, and this crime spills over into the US. And there is this too:
Mexico does not extradite to countries that are seeking the death penalty, and has successfully defended 400 Mexicans charged with a capital offence in the United States. This has in the past led to American fugitives crossing the border into Mexico in order to avoid the death penalty.
Update: Oddly, it is the Green Party in Mexico leading the charge to restore the death penalty (… something about the carbon footprint of murderers or something).
