[DRAFT] Repeal "Preventing the Execution of Innocents"

[Sierra Lyricalia]

Sierra Lyricalia House of Diplomats
Edmundo Valerii, Secretary
Official World Assembly Proposal

Repeal "Preventing the Execution of Innocents"

Insisting on achieving the target resolution's stated goal of eliminating executions for all but the most depraved of guilty criminals,

Applauding the membership of the World Assembly for its forward-looking and humane attitude toward capital punishment,

Disgusted that the target resolution is not sober and forthright about its intent to make capital punishment utterly impossible,

Loathing the cowardly decision to hide its intent of a total ban in a byzantine morass of inane bureaucracy, impossible evidentiary standards, arbitrary waiting periods, and pointless numerical quotas,

Pointing out that:

1. Clause 2 arguably prohibits any sovereign nation with less than one million residents from ever sending any convicted criminals to the Capital Cases Division, no matter how severe the crime and regardless of national crime rates;
2. Member nations must employ psychics, clairvoyants, fortune tellers, or time travelers in order to achieve the standard of evidence in Clause 4(f) - all of whom are either unreliable, or unavailable to the vast majority of member nations' law enforcement;
3. Clause 6 prohibits the execution of even truly heinous criminals based on a cold, amoral mathematical accounting of victims, such that a vile criminal who, for example, delights in the torture and dismemberment of a homeless person with no family may not be executed, but a repentant convict who accidentally maims several in the course of a robbery gone wrong may be executed;
4. Clauses 5 and 8 combine to utterly prevent the fulfillment of any capital sentence, as Clause 5 requires over a year of procedural delays once certification is issued, while Clause 8 prohibits execution of any convict whose case has not received certification within the past year;
5. Clause 7 entirely bars member nations from extraditing accused criminals to nations where they might face capital punishment, an arbitrary judgment that is likely to leave violent criminals - and even war criminals - loose on the streets of member states;
6. Clause 2 also uses the excuse of "avoiding confirmation bias" to prohibit the keeping of records regarding its proceedings, leaving the Capital Cases Division's workings totally opaque not only to member nations but also to the rest of the WA Compliance Commission, of which it is nominally a part - thus leading to a total lack of effective oversight,

Adamant in its belief that member states have the right and the duty to decide in an honest and straightforward manner whether and how capital punishment shall be administered, rather than disingenuously banning it under the guise of reasonable restrictions,

The World Assembly hereby repeals GA Resolution #443.

[Sierra Lyricalia]

Celebrating the need to achieve the target resolution's stated goal of eliminating executions for all but the most depraved of guilty criminals, and

Applauding the membership of the World Assembly for its forward-looking and humane attitude toward capital punishment, yet

Disgusted that the target resolution is not sober and forthright about its intent to make capital punishment utterly impossible, and

Loathing the cowardly decision to hide its intent of a total ban in a byzantine morass of inane bureaucracy, impossible evidentiary standards, arbitrary waiting periods, and pointless numerical quotas,

Pointing out that:

1. Clause 2 arguably prohibits any sovereign nation with less than one million residents from ever sending any convicted criminals to the Capital Cases Division, no matter how severe the crime and regardless of national crime rates;
2. Member nations must employ psychics, clairvoyants, fortune tellers, or time travelers in order to achieve the standard of evidence in Clause 4(f) - all of whom are either charlatans, or unavailable to the vast majority of member nations' law enforcement;
3. Clause 6 prohibits the execution of even truly heinous criminals based on a cold, amoral mathematical accounting of victims, such that a vile criminal who, for example, delights in the torture and dismemberment of a homeless person with no family may not be executed, but a repentant convict who accidentally maims several in the course of a robbery gone wrong may be executed;
4. Clauses 5 and 8 combine to utterly prevent the fulfillment of any capital sentence, as Clause 5 requires over a year of procedural delays once certification is issued, while Clause 8 prohibits execution of any convict whose case has not received certification within the past year;
5. Clause 7 entirely bars member nations from extraditing accused criminals to nations where they might face capital punishment, an arbitrary judgment that is likely to leave violent criminals loose on the streets of member states;
6. Clause 2 also uses the excuse of "avoiding confirmation bias" to prohibit the keeping of records regarding its proceedings, leaving the Capital Cases Division's workings totally opaque not only to member nations but also to the rest of the WA Compliance Commission, of which it is nominally a part - thus leading to a total lack of effective oversight,

Adamant in its belief that member states have the right and the duty to decide in an honest and straightforward manner whether and how capital punishment shall be administered,

The World Assembly hereby repeals GA Resolution #443.

[Kiravian WA Mission]

Full support

[Kenmoria]

“I believe the target resolution’s title is ‘Preventing the Execution of Innocents’ not ‘Protecting the Execution of Innocents’.”

[Sierra Lyricalia]

“I believe the target resolution’s title is ‘Preventing the Execution of Innocents’ not ‘Protecting the Execution of Innocents’.”

Egad. Hell of a Freudian slip

[Bears Armed]

OOC
Are we accepting the adjective "byzantine", with a lower-case 'b' and in this sort of context, as not being a RL reference?
Probably okay, as far as I'm concerned, but maybe borderline enough for checking pre-submission that a majority of GenSec agrees to be advisable?

[Wrapper]

OOC:

4 often not capitalized
a : of, relating to, or characterized by a devious and usually surreptitious manner of operation

If it's in the dictionary with a lowercase b then why not? A lot of common nouns (and their adjective forms) are derived from proper nouns (shrapnel, diesel, sandwich, boycott, and many chemical elements and units of measure), we can't make them all illegal.

[Liberimery]

OOC
Are we accepting the adjective "byzantine", with a lower-case 'b' and in this sort of context, as not being a RL reference?
Probably okay, as far as I'm concerned, but maybe borderline enough for checking pre-submission that a majority of GenSec agrees to be advisable?

OOC: Why not? We already have called acts "Barbaric" or similar which in its original meaning would qualify as a real world reference. Barbarians were a specific subset of people, namely those who were not citizens or residents of the Roman Republic/Empire.

[Kenmoria]

“I find your reasoning in subclause d flawed. Clause 5 of the target resolution only requires 6 months of delay for investigation before a certification can be issued, which is well within the limits of clause 8.”

[Bears Armed]

OOC:

4 often not capitalized
a : of, relating to, or characterized by a devious and usually surreptitious manner of operation

If it's in the dictionary with a lowercase b then why not? A lot of common nouns (and their adjective forms) are derived from proper nouns (shrapnel, diesel, sandwich, boycott, and many chemical elements and units of measure), we can't make them all illegal.

OOC
That's what I thought, too, but I could see the possibility of somebody trying to challenge it on this point so I thought that getting an opinion settled early might be helpful.

[New Bremerton]

Full support.

[Liberimery]

Ambassador, this has my full support. I would like to ask if you would like my arguments as to how the target Resolution may violate Resolutions preventing Double Jeopardy?

As a nation that has had a suspension on its Death Penalty enacted, officially I must lodge my protest on this allowing member nations to resume their Death Penalties without sanctions, but if this is a topic to be banned, it must be done in an honest fashion and not this underhanded "compromise" by the Resolution's author.

[Aclion]

If it's in the dictionary with a lowercase b then why not? A lot of common nouns (and their adjective forms) are derived from proper nouns (shrapnel, diesel, sandwich, boycott, and many chemical elements and units of measure), we can't make them all illegal.

That sounds like a challenge to me!

[Sierra Lyricalia]

“I find your reasoning in subclause d flawed. Clause 5 of the target resolution only requires 6 months of delay for investigation before a certification can be issued, which is well within the limits of clause 8.”

"Read it again, ambassador:

5. In all cases where a capital sentence is issued, before it is carried out,

a. member nations shall serially provide the Division and all counsel assigned or associated with a case, six months to discover, examine, and verify exculpatory evidence which could exonerate the defendant,

"Note the use of the word 'serially' here - nations must give the Division six months to go over the evidence, and then they must give the attorneys six months to do so. While the resolution is cleverly written to look as reasonable as you think it does, it is the single most egregious Catch-22 ever passed by this Assembly."

[Tinfect]

OOC:
Was around, figured I'd express support.
Get 'em, SL.

[Wallenburg]

I would recommend that you remove the "and"s and "yet"s at the ends of the preambulatory clauses. Their awkward attachment to the ends of those clauses distracts from the main message.

[The ethereal lord]

Full support, this supposed "compromise" is ridiculous

[Jebslund]

"Fully supported. That the target passed is simply unconscionable."

[Jutsa]

*Spits out water at the sight of section d.*

"Oh my..."

*smashes a big green "yes" button.*

[Demiurges]

Complete and total whole-hearted support from Demiurges to this proposal!

[Sierra Lyricalia]

Leo stumbles into the darkened chamber and manages to flip the light switch just in time to brace himself on the now-visible wooden partition separating the observers' box from the aisle; and likely saving himself a nasty contusion. He rights himself and manages to get to the dais, where he unzips the plastic dust cover and whips it off the podium with a suave flourish noticed by exactly no one. Once the integrated presentation equipment is up and running, Leo flips the final switch and the "IN SESSION" lamp at the back of the chamber lights up.

"Now then. Perhaps something substantial can be achieved."

[Kenmoria]

“The word ‘celebrating’ in the corresponding clause sounds a little odd given the subject matter that the sentence discusses. Perhaps ‘observing’ or ‘noting’ might fit better. Anyway, full support regardless. I’d rather an honest ban than a misleading mandate to ban three-thirds of cases.”

[Wallenburg]

"All seems in order with the current draft. It has my support, Ambassador."

[Sierra Lyricalia]

“The word ‘celebrating’ in the corresponding clause sounds a little odd given the subject matter that the sentence discusses. Perhaps ‘observing’ or ‘noting’ might fit better. Anyway, full support regardless. I’d rather an honest ban than a misleading mandate to ban three-thirds of cases.”

"Now you mention it, ambassador, it does ring... very weird. I'll look to find more somber phrasing."

[Ardiveds]

Delegate Arthur reads the repeal, full of nostalgia "I was but a doe eyed new recruit when this devious shadow ban was passed, new to this job. Oh, how time flies." He wipes one eye "This has our support, ambassador."