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Unveiling Singapore’s Death Penalty Discourse: A Critical Analysis of Public Opinion and Deterrent Claims

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While Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) maintains a firm stance on the effectiveness of the death penalty in managing drug trafficking in Singapore, the article presents evidence suggesting that the methodologies and interpretations of these studies might not be as substantial as portrayed.

Texas executes Jerry Martin

Jerry Martin
Jerry Martin
Jerry Martin, 43, was executed Tuesday for the 2007 death of 59-year-old Susan Canfield, who had worked for the prison system for seven years.

Martin requested appeals in his case be dropped and no actions taken to delay his scheduled lethal injection.

“I can’t say I fully support him, but he’s at peace with his decision,” one of Martin’s attorneys, David Schulman, said last week. “This is what he wants to do. He’s not being pressured into this. He just doesn’t want to live the rest of his life in prison.”

Martin declined to speak with reporters as his execution date neared, but he told a judge in Huntsville earlier this year that he thought he had “done the wrong thing” all his life.

“This is my one chance to do the right thing,” he said at a June hearing before State District Judge John Delaney. “I’ve made my peace with God. And I’m grateful that I’ve had this opportunity . . . to accept what I’ve done wrong and take responsibility for my actions and die with a little bit of dignity. And a lot of people don’t have that.”

Canfield's husband and daughter were among the people watching Tuesday through a window in the death chamber.

From the death chamber gurney, Martin told relatives of the slain corrections officer that he was sorry. "I wish I could take it back, but I can't," he said.

"I hope this gives you closure. I did not murder your loved one. It was an accident. I didn't mean for it to happen, but it happened. I take full responsibility."

Martin told his own friends and a brother, watching through another window, that he loved them. "You know I'm at peace. God is the ultimate judge. He knows what happened."

He took a deep breath, then snored as the drug took effect. He was pronounced dead 11 minutes later at 6:27 p.m. CST.

More than 200 corrections officers stood outside the prison in formation as the execution was taking place. Next to them was a riderless horse. A large photo of Canfield was displayed at the steps leading to the prison front door.

"This is a great day and justice has been done," Canfield's husband, Charles, a retired Houston police officer, said after watching Martin die. "I heard what he said. I accept what he said. Do I give it any credibility? No, sir, I don't.

"The fact is he was escaping. ... I don't care if you intend it or not. You committed the act and, in this state, thank God we live in one where capital murder exists and where that punishment exists." 

On Sept. 24, 2007, Martin and John Falk Jr., a convicted murderer serving a life sentence, bolted from the inmate work crew outside the Wynne Unit prison at the northern edge of Huntsville. Martin jumped into a truck at a nearby city service center and rammed it into Canfield, who was on horseback. The horse threw Canfield and her head struck the edge of the truck roof and windshield, killing her.

Authorities said the getaway began when Martin snatched an officer’s weapon and tossed it to Falk. Shots were fired as the two sped off. They dumped the pickup about a mile away and carjacked a woman at a bank drive-thru. Huntsville police pursuing them shot out a tire in that car and the inmates fled on foot.Falk was apprehended within an hour. Martin was caught a few hours later hiding in a tree. 

Martin was convicted in 2009 in Canfield’s death and sentenced to die. A judge declared a mistrial in Falk’s capital murder case and he is awaiting a retrial.

Martin becomes the 16th and final condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 508th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on Dec. 7, 1982. Martin becomes the 269th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in 2001.

Martin becomes the 36th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1356th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sixteen is about average for the number of executions in Texas over the last five years.

At least six are scheduled for early 2014.

Source: The Associated Press, Rick Halperin, December 3, 2013

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