Well done China...

[madandra]

In Britain we seem to accept drug dealers and in some circles they are worshipped as modern day entrepreneurs. What people fail to realise is that if a dealer has 200 customers then they will eventually require health care and other funding by the state to pay their rent, council tax and feed their chidren so the cost that they extract from non smack heads is unmeasurable. I have little sympathy for drug addicts or dealers and wish we would stop faffing around them. I would like to see every police stations hold 50-100 criminals and that would soon eradicate the availability in the scum having access to the drugs.

 

[Tommo21]

The fact that a 54 year old man thought he could embark on a pop career must indicate some detachment from the real world.

Spot on................but we have tons of these people, just look at the pi$h on the X factor, and they're not in prison for drugs.

 

[Ethan]

The fact that a 54 year old man thought he could embark on a pop career must indicate some detachment from the real world.

Spot on................but we have tons of these people, just look at the pi$h on the X factor, and they're not in prison for drugs.

Tommo. That was a passing comment, and presumably not the entire basis for the defence he was bipolar.

I don't watch X Factor, but I hear that many of the contestants would be sectionable under the Mental Health Act.

 

[Dodger]

What next? Letting someone off for jumping a red light cos he sneezed as the lights changed cos he had the cold?

Has there actually been any proof that he had real 'problems'? I thought I heard there had been no previous medical problems?

I'll ask this,if he flogged your son/daughter some of his gear would you be saying 'poor fella,he's no well'??
Na,thought not..

 

[birdieman]

Gotta agree with the above 2 posters, possible depression is not madness,

The old 'I'm mad so let me off' excuse is rolled out too often in the UK imo.

You are wrong.

Like the other 2 posters, you appear to be ignorant about the features of depression, which can lead to a psychotic delusional illness where the patient loses all touch with reality, and therefore lacks mental and legal capacity for their actions.

However, such cases are rare, and a mental illness defence is not used very often to acquit. When it is used by the defence, the defendant sometimes ends up in Broadmoor or Rampton or some such place. Not exactly a picnic.

The fact that a 54 year old man thought he could embark on a pop career must indicate some detachment from the real world.

I don't know if this man would meet the legal standard for such a defence under UK law, but I am damn sure you know nothing about the issues.

Ethan, maybe I'm reading this wrongly but can you not put forward your point of view without being personally insulting? Seems unnecesary, you don't know me so why the ugly tone?

 

[Parmo]

Are we meant to start feeling sorry for drug smugglers now? I have a friend with Bipolar disorder and he has frequent highs and lows. He is one of the brightest people I know but his condition does not cloud his moral judgment. Even if this guy did have this condition (which I doubt) he knew exactly what he was doing and the risks involved.
I won't lose a wink of sleep tonight because there's one more dead drug dealer.

Yeah its really worked for the USA hasnt it?? They have the worst murder rate in the world and yet the thought of death doesnt put people off it...

 

[Parmo]

The thing is... Will or does the UK have power to do anything? No. China is only borrowing off future growth and is why the USA is silent unlike the Knox case (which she is as guilty as a dog in a butchers.

We need a strong UK.

 

[SammmeBee]

Yeah its really worked for the USA hasnt it?? They have the worst murder rate in the world and yet the thought of death doesnt put people off it...

I think you need to do some research on this....

FWIW why is it we only care about the British traffickers (who all know the penalty of the countries they are going to)....what about all the others? Get caught and face the penalties...sorry.....

 

[Parmo]

The US has a life for life policy in most states and yes they execute more people than China.. Does that work? No it does not, what about redemtion? What about the only judge is the Lord?

 

[vig]

How many peoples lives are ruined because of drugs?
How many die because of smugglers bringing the stuff in.

I wouldn't bat an eyelid if EVERY drug smuggler/baron was executed, hell i'd be happy to pull the switch

 

[Parmo]

Life is about redemption though.

 

[SammmeBee]

The US has a life for life policy in most states and yes they execute more people than China.. Does that work? No it does not, what about redemtion? What about the only judge is the Lord?

There are less Chinese in the US than China......

What about redemption?

 

[thegogg]

The US has a life for life policy in most states and yes they execute more people than China.. Does that work? No it does not, what about redemtion? What about the only judge is the Lord?

I think you'll find that China execute more than the rest of the world put together, rather than America executing more people than China (see below) and please don't bring religion in to this as religion is by far the biggest and most pointless killer ever!

Countries with the Most Confirmed Executions in 2008
1. China (1,718) 4. United States (37)
2. Iran (346) 5. Pakistan (36)
3. Saudi Arabia (102) 6. Iraq (34)

 

[forefortheday]

Depends upon how you see crime and punishment for me.

If any punishment for a crime is "revenge" than an eye for an eye is a perfectly logical conclusion.

Personally never been the victim of any major crime nor anyone in my family (apart from one burglary at a flat I once lived in which raised it's value. The guy left a sock!).

As a father crimes of a sexual nature make me want to kill but aren't we a little bit further on than chucking stones at people and chopping hands off?

As a deterrent the Death Penalty is useless but maybe it's purpose is to make us "satisfied" the justice system is working?

 

[Ethan]

Gotta agree with the above 2 posters, possible depression is not madness,

The old 'I'm mad so let me off' excuse is rolled out too often in the UK imo.

You are wrong.

Like the other 2 posters, you appear to be ignorant about the features of depression, which can lead to a psychotic delusional illness where the patient loses all touch with reality, and therefore lacks mental and legal capacity for their actions.

However, such cases are rare, and a mental illness defence is not used very often to acquit. When it is used by the defence, the defendant sometimes ends up in Broadmoor or Rampton or some such place. Not exactly a picnic.

The fact that a 54 year old man thought he could embark on a pop career must indicate some detachment from the real world.

I don't know if this man would meet the legal standard for such a defence under UK law, but I am damn sure you know nothing about the issues.

Ethan, maybe I'm reading this wrongly but can you not put forward your point of view without being personally insulting? Seems unnecesary, you don't know me so why the ugly tone?

Why the ugly tone indeed? You adopted a very ugly, critical, and most importantly, wrong tone when shouting the odds about people with mental illness. I was responding in language you might understand.

You are right, I don't know you, but I know that you don't really know what you are talking about. If that is insulting, sorry.

I hope you are fortunate enough to avoid suffering mental illness in your life, but if you are not so lucky, you may change your opinion.

I worked as a psychiatrist some years back and have seen patients with severe psychotic depression, who on the surface just appeared a little odd. Perhaps just like this poor sod.

 

[birdieman]

Ethan, intellectual snobbery is not a particularly attractive trait ie the " in a langauage you might understand" comment!

You'd think by your response that I'd written an article on how depression is nonsense. I didn't and in fact live daily with a friend on lithium who gets seriously low. I also shared a flat at University with a manic depressive, fellow was a top bloke and a good friend, unconditional. I am and was sympathetic to their problems.

This fellow that was executed, it is reported, had no history of mental illness. My comment which was perhaps flippant, for which I apologise, did not knock mental illness, it said that depression doesn't necessarily lead to a state of mind that renders you mentally irresponsible of smuggling 4kg of heroin into China. You say in extreme cases it could which I am happy to accept. It doesn't appear this fellow was an extreme depressive however. Surely to organise and carry out such a crime needs you fully mentally astute?

 

[theeaglehunter]

It was mentioned earlier, but I feel it is worth making reference to again due to the way in which this argument has progressed.

If the guy was unstable mentally to a degree where he was unaware of either A) Even having drugs in his possession, or B) The implications this offense may have in a communist regime such as China's, then why was he ever allowed out of the country, without a companion / carer? Should he have even been in possession of a valid passport if the argument his sympathisers are putting forward is correct, in regard to his severe mental illness?

I believe Heroin is not the sort of drug which would be casually obtained at this end either. I must admit I haven't read into any claims of how he came to be in possession of the drugs in the first place, but I would assume that many people are pleading his innocence in this sense as well, in order to corroborate their overall argument of his execution being unjust. I think the fact of the matter stands that whilst the guy may not be 100% sane, in reality he knew what he was doing and was caught so faced the consequences. As others have argued too many people attempt in this day and age to sight such things as mental disabilities in order to immunise themselves from prosecution / punishment.

I unfortunately can not feel any real degree of sympathy in this instance.

 

[Golfmmad]

I can't really feel much sympathy for this guy.He must of known what he was going into and as such has suffered the consequences.

Just as much as those that have succumbed to the evil world of drugs that he was entering.

I can still vividly remember that picture, in all the newspapers, of the young girl found slumped to her death, on the floor of her flat after taking a heroin overdose.

She was once a young and bright university graduate, with a bright future ahead of her. Until this evil struck her down.

R.I.P Young girl.

Golfmmad.

 

[bobmac]

If he was caught with 4 kgs of heroin, how much is that worth on the streets?

 

[theeaglehunter]

$2 million apparently Bob, having just looked into it (Although this isn't an official figure, it was posted on an internet forum). Perhaps even more in China as their zero tolerance policy would presumably make it harder to get hold of, and supply vs demand theory would surely see this increase its value.