If Judge had been convicted of robbery in the United States, surely he would not have served out his term prior to execution. The absurd approach adopted by Canada and endorsed by Maughan amounts to an incentive to fugitives from the death penalty to commit violent crime in Canada, ideally murder, as they would then serve the mandatory life sentence in Canada. In April 1998, a United Nations Special Rapporteur denounced the many abuses in death-penalty practices in the United States. Those accused of capital crimes are often defended by poorly paid, unmotivated and incompetent lawyers appointed by the court. Elected judges and prosecutors insist on capital punishment, with a wary eye to their next rendezvous with the electorate.
Racism is an integral element in the American death penalty.
A resolution by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted following the presentation of the rapporteur's report called for a world-wide moratorium on capital punishment. Canada was one of the resolution's co-sponsors. More than 100 states, including Canada, have now abolished the death penalty. The recently adopted Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court excludes the death penalty, even for the most heinous of crimes. The extradition treaty with the United States entitles us to insist that capital punishment not be imposed.