Mexico, war crimes and a slippery slope

The drug war in Mexico has left tens of thousands of people dead and the country in peril. What difference will a new war crimes charge brought against the government make?

The Death Penalty for Drugs – ‘Shared Responsibility and Shared Consequences’

For those governments that think the death penalty for drugs is none of their business - think again. Even though the majority of the world’s states have abolished capital punishment for all crimes, and only a tiny minority carry out the death penalty for drugs, it is often foreigners from non-death penalty countries that suffer the ‘ultimate sanction.’

Poverty and drug trafficking: a denial of mercy

All too often, states disproportionately apply the death penalty to the 'small fish' in drug trafficking organisations. That these people usually poor, often young and occasionally ignorant of the contents of their cargo does nothing to elicit mercy

Drugs, the Death Penalty and a Cautionary Tale for Governments

The harrowing struggle to spare a young Australian named Scott Rush from the firing squad in Indonesia appears to be over. But now Rush’s own government should confront its role in the case to avoid exposing people to similar dangers in the future.

This week's editor

Heather McRobie


Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and co-editor of OurKingdom.

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