Crime-weary Mexicans weigh death penalty

Chicago Sun Times ^ | February 16, 2003 | LISA J. ADAMS

[SJackson]

TOLUCA, Mexico--Just weeks after Mexico asked the World Court to stay the executions of Mexicans on Death Row in the United States, politicians here are suggesting the death penalty may be the best way to stop skyrocketing crime rates at home.

The proposal has provoked an outcry among human rights groups, rival political parties and business groups--and struck a raw nerve in a country where opposition to the death penalty has more than once strained relations with its neighbor to the north.

The former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and the allied Green Party are sponsoring a non-binding referendum on the death penalty Sunday in Mexico state a few weeks before local municipal elections.

The referendum invites the state's 8 million adults to say whether they would like to see kidnappers, armed robbers, first-degree murderers and child abductors put to death.

It also asks whether life sentences should be imposed on rapists and corrupt public officials, including police and judges.

Mexico state is the country's most populous and most diverse and it is often seen as a microcosm of Mexico--a possible indicator for voter tendencies across the nation.

Mexico state PRI leaders say the poll is part of a broader plan to overhaul the state's justice system, and a response to calls from residents to stop soaring crime rates.

''We don't want the death penalty or life sentences at any cost,'' said the state's PRI president, Isidro Pastor. ''We want the citizens to decide. But in the polls we already have done, people are very much in favor of the death penalty.''

Opponents say the survey makes a legally impossible proposal that exploits people's frustrations. They argue that Mexico state's constitution does not allow the death penalty and approving it would violate international treaties against capital punishment that the country has signed.

''We shouldn't hold impossible polls,'' said Sen. Leticia Burgoa of the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party. ''What we should do is put forth productive proposals ... and not just tap into people's desperation and rage.''

A death penalty would go against generations of Mexican history. While legally permitted for some crimes, it hasn't been implemented for decades. The nation's Supreme Court has ruled on several occasions that it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Mexican courts routinely refuse to extradite Mexicans wanted in the United States if they face the death penalty or life in prison. The government has hired attorneys to fight for those already on Death Row.

Relations were strained last August when President Vicente Fox canceled a visit to the Texas ranch of President Bush after Bush refused to halt the execution of a Mexican for the murder of a Dallas police officer.

[Theodore R.]

What does a nation do when its commitment to the "democratic ideal" comes in conflict with reality? Most just burrow their faces in the sand and continue to mouth the "democratic" rhetoric.

[B4Ranch]

You must be referring to the US citizens who refuse to quit burrowing away from the truth.

[First Amendment]

''What we should do is put forth productive proposals ... and not just tap into people's desperation and rage.'' <p?What could be more productive than putting to death the types of criminals mentioned in the article?

[ofMagog]

It also asks whether life sentences should be imposed on rapists and corrupt public officials, including police and judges.

We could not do that in this country. We'd have to designated half a state as a penal colony for all the politicians.

[husky ed]

Their just not weary of the crime of illegally crossing our border.