Lib Dem PPC for Skipton and Ripon Speaks Out Against the Death Penalty

Speech by James Keeley on Wed 9th May 2007

Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Skipton and Ripon and barrister James Keeley gave a speech on Tuesday night in Harrogate about the Death Penalty.

Mr. Keeley concentrating on executions in America said how passionately he was against the Death Penalty and that it was wrong on both moral and evidenced based grounds. In his argument against the Death Penalty he stated that

(i) any type of state execution, even by lethal injection, is repugnant

(ii) being mentally ill is no bar against to being executed

(iii) it was only just in the last two years that the Supreme Court had ruled it unconstitutional to execute people who had committed their crimes when under the age of 18

(iv) those States in the US that had the Death Penalty had higher murder rates than those who did not have the Death Penalty. So the Death Penalty is not a deterrent force

(v) the Death Penalty is more expensive than imprisoning someone for life.

(vi) Since 1973 123 people in 25 states had been released from Death Row

Mr. Keeley gave the audience examples about how innocent people had been convicted and ended up spending many years on Death Row only to have their convictions overturned. There were others with considerable question marks over their guilt and who had not had fair trials and had been subsequently executed.