How is Life valued in Court?
A 19 year old, to hang at age 20, for being exploited by drug lords to deliver 47g of heroin
A 36 year old, fined $8000, for exploiting a 17 yr old girl, by bringing her in from china to become a prostitute, and living on her earnings. Ok his sentence was upped to 1 year.
The Health Minister, to ask parliament on Monday, to allow our society to kill our vulnerable, weak and suffering, without any criminal charge.
That’s just page8 of today’s TODAY. Turn to page18.
An entire nation prepares a funeral for 10 months and mourns the passing of an elderly woman.
Turn to page 24.
A man imprisons his own daughter for 24 years since she was 18, raping her repeatedly. He’s likely to spend the rest of his life with free food and lodging in an Austrian prison with much better conditions than he ever gave his imprisoned daughter. And being 73 already….
“Mr Fritzl’s daughter was bound in iron chains padlocked to a post in a cell that was frequently overrun by rats. Mr Fritzl regularly beat the soles of Elisabeth’s feel and forced her to perform sexual acts several times a day, often for several hours at a time. Mr Fritzl would also allegedly force her to watch pornographic films with him and make her re-enact the film scenes. Elizabeth gave birth to her seven children on her own while Mr Fritzl only made available a pair of scissors to cut the umbilical cord, a non-sterile blanket and a pack of nappies.”
I wasn’t planning to write this post. I wanted to stick to what I knew, about health care and medical science.
But these events make me wonder about how we, as a human race, value LIFE.
I’m actually pro-death penalty. When I read about what Mr Fritzl has done, I’m pro-death penalty.
Then I read about human traffickers, bringing in young girls to Singapore to become prostitutes, and they are given free food and lodging in our change resort for 1 year. Girls who should be in seconday school, JC, poly. Girls who are not allowed to watch RA(21).
And a 19 year old. I can see all the 19 year olds. They were my JC classmates, they were my brother, my students, the NS boys tired out on the mrt, the boys still waiting to watch an RA(21) movie, the boys whom the state cannot trust to make a vote for their government.
A 19 year old, to hang at 20, for 47grams.
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Add on: Had feedback that the post was not understandable enough (Thanks Daniel for feedback!), so here’s my point:
Looking at the difference in the sentences given for these 2 crimes, does it say something about the way these crimes are viewed? That exploiting and trafficking young girls gets you 1 yr, but stupidity (ie. being a teenager exploited to carry drugs for $2000) gets you death? What does that say about how human beings are valued, and how the punishments are so disproportionate in both extremes?
Daniel explains it well too, go check it out!
http://informationreadbyme.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-is-life-valued-in-court-from-mathia.html
12 Responses
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Hey there! I’m not the one to take a subject and find a way to make it sound worse, but unfortunately this is such a case:
- The Austrian guy actually bought presents for all the police officers while he was detained and arranged for them to be delivered to police HQ
- This same guy actually said that he shouldn’t be charged as a criminal because, “after all”, he took care of all his 7 children a best as he could. While you give that a thought, keep in mind that some of his children saw the sun for the first time after they were rescued
- Want to talk planning and premeditation? The guy actually build the room in which he kept his daughter
- Last but not least, the 19-year-old case, there’s two points I want to make there: the first that there was a piece of news about a gay couple from a middle eastern country (I think it was Iran) and one of the guys was in the UK and had to request asylum because his partner was hunted down and convicted of sodomy and hanged back home
- The second point is Vote, ironically enough….. those guys who can’t even see an RA movie, CAN be “voted” to die in war (via mandatory military service or enlistment) by a government that they didn’t even have a chance to choose, and without even having to agree for the cause that they’ll die for….
I’ll try to end this on a positive note, and I’ll say that this is our world right now! and that it’s up to us to try and change it into something where things like this aren’t part of our lives….
More about the 19 yr old who would pay with his life:
When arrested shortly after midnight after his delivery to Gwee. Yong looked shocked and asked for his mother.
His lawyers, who were assigned by the State as Yong was unrepresented in a capital case, told the court that Yong’s father passed away many years ago and his mother was very sickly
Yong looked devastated when the death sentence was passed, and was seen wiping tears away as he was manacled.
Alejandro: Love your point about how 18 yr old guys here are expected to die for their country but not allowed to choose their leaders who decide on the war they should die in.
0.o, i didn’t realise tat from another angle, our National Service is actually tat evil. lol.
Nice 1 Alejandro.
Anyway, since the guy has shown remorse, he should be given a 2nd chance. Sincerely. Not tat he should go free. But any 2nd time committer, then i would feel tat Death is ok. But then again, those Anti Death Groups may not feel it’s ok though. But my pt is, he did it once, then forgiven and given 2nd chance. But he did it again = never learn his lesson.
I wonder wat will be the outcome of this case. Or will news even be publish for the outcome of this case. =X
yes Daniel, I didn’t realise it too, until Alejandro pointed it out to me. Btw, Alejandro is not from Singapore, he’s from the furthest place from Singapore. And that’s what I like about talking to people from elsewhere. Once you’re outside the box, you see things that people within the box can never see.
Amazing right, how Singaporeans complain about having not enough say, not enough rights, about money gone, jobs gone. But when it comes down to the life and death issues — our OWN LIFE and DEATH issues, and whether we a the opportunity to even have a say or even choose the people who are gonna decide for us, there is hardly a sound from the masses.
We’re like the bird in a bird cage, who is so well trained, that we complain about the food in the cage, the flooring in the cage, the size of our cage bars — but totally missed the fact that we are in a cage.
[...] I refer to the below mentioned article and commentary. I beg to differ sadly. Lest I am accused of being too cruel and inhumane, let me put forth my [...]
There can be no justification for MANDATORY death penalty.
See, this is where any leniency or life imprisonment cannot be meted out by the judiciary because of a law that is too harsh, too wrong.
You have to extrapolated your thoughts and think about the effect of all these actions, and how the parties are involved. I’m not saying I disagreed with your specific examples, but it seems that you have left out some perspective and details.
Rob
[...] – Singapore Social Activist: Feedback: Budget 2009 – Tax-cuts not the way to go – Mathia Lee: How is life valued in court – Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: a sad case of law vs life – Blowin’ In The Wind: Why [...]
Rob, you’re right. For more perspective and details, see my more detailed post
http://mathialee.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/human-trafficking-an-ignored-injustice-in-singapore/
, as well as the more websites referenced there, which are far more authoratative . Thanks!
[...] Read rest of article here [...]
[...] – Singapore Social Activist: Feedback: Budget 2009 – Tax-cuts not the way to go – Mathia Lee: How is life valued in court – Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: a sad case of law vs life – Blowin’ In The Wind: Why [...]