The Bangkok Post reports:
A 26-year-old convicted killer was executed by lethal injection Monday, the seventh person to be put to death since the method was introduced and the first since 2009, Corrections Department chief Pol Col Naras Savestanan said.
Theerasak Longji, 26, was convicted for the brutal killing of a 17-year-old boy in Trang, He was 19 at the time of the murder.
He stabbed his victim 24 times in a frenzied attack on July 17, 2012, before making off with his mobile phone and money. The perpetrator reportedly knew the victim, and was motivated by jealousy over a girl.
And of course the usual objectors said the usual things, reported in this follow-up story in the Post:
Amnesty International issued a statement condemning the move.
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"There is no evidence that the death penalty has any unique deterrent effect, so the Thai authorities' hope that this move will reduce crime is deeply misguided. The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and provides no quick-fixes to problems the authorities want to confront."
It's not clear what they mean with the qualifier "unique," but if they mean there is no evidence the death penalty has a deterrent effect, that is false. Informed people can and do disagree over the strength of the evidence, but there is no doubt of the existence of the evidence. Whether execution is more degrading than life without parole is also a matter reasonable people can and do differ on. Saying it is not a quick fix is the infamous Straw Man Fallacy. Nobody said it was.
Capital punishment must remain to deal with severe crime and ensure national peace and most people agree with it, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said Tuesday.
Obviously, that means it is an element of the effort to deal with crime, not a complete solution by itself.
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