Ban on Judicial Murder
Category: Civil Rights | Strength: Significant | Proposed by: United Massachusetts
Proud of the protections for innocent inmates that it enacted under General Assembly Resolution 443, Preventing the Execution of Innocents,
Aware, however, that GA 443 still leaves the door open for member nations to engage in judicial murder, the practice of deliberately killing their own citizens as a form of criminal punishment,
Asserting that such practices contravene a basic respect for the fundamental dignity of all persons, in that they make the very right to live conditional, instead of acknowledging it as a basic human freedom,
Noting, further, that judicial murder is bad policy, in that there is little evidence to prove that it deters crime at all, only draws out the frustrations of crime victims by long legal processes, and offers no opportunities for rehabilitation,
Believing that, whereas judicial punishment is solely retributive, a proper punishment should serve to (a) deter crime, (b) punish crime, and critically, (c) open avenues for the rehabilitation of criminals,
The World Assembly, finally doing what it should have done in September 2018, by the advice and consent of the delegates and member nations thereof, and by the authority of the same, in this present session assembled under the auspices human amity and cooperation, and charging forth to strike down every evil into the depths of the earth, hereby:
- Prohibits any member-state from executing any individual within its jurisdiction as a form of criminal punishment,
- Prohibits any member-state from extraditing any individual within its jurisdiction to another state where they will likely be executed,
- Strongly urges member-states to commute the punishments of any individuals currently facing the prospect of execution, and through their proper legal mechanisms, find an alternative punishment.