The Bali trials

[scorpia]

By now news of what is happening in Bali would be known by most.

I am not a judge. Yet the death sentence for the Bali nine seems pretty harsh. I have always despised drug trafficking, or drug use, and the way people use or sell drugs so freely without any regard for the law or what they are doing to themselves, all so that they can look 'cool'. I could never get why people do that. But even though I wish there were some better laws on drugs, in this case it has gone too far. The death sentence is too harsh. But then again this is more of a debate on the death sentence.

Still, it can be seen here that there is a big disadvantage for a death sentence; When someone who is actually innocent get charged for a crime and is accused of being guilty, and is to receive the death penalty wrongly. I cannot exactly point out the factual proof that Corby is innocent, but I believe that she is. Maybe the proof I see is the way she acts the type of person she is, the way her family trusts her, her side of the story, etc. Although this is obviously not going to hold up in a court of law, and even if she could possibly be guilty, the point may still stand that someone innocent would still become a victim of this type of judgement.

I even feel sorry for those nine others who were caught red-handed. They were led on by some one into doing the wrong thing. It seems so gullible to risk your life by doing something like drug-smuggling, for whatever reward you may get. (I heard it was thousands of dollars and a holiday?).

Anyway since this is a debating forum I guess I should post a question;
How in the world can the judge sentence Corby to death? Isn't the death sentence even for the Bali nine still harsh?

And since I am on the subject of thing like drugs, aside from addiction, why do people still turn towards them? Why can't they see the harm it will cause to themselves or others? Why would the do that just to look 'cool'? Why must taking/ selling drugs, among other things, be a pre-requisite to being 'cool'?

[Corvus]

Anyway since this is a debating forum I guess I should post a question;
How in the world can the judge sentence Corby to death? Isn't the death sentence even for the Bali nine still harsh?

I don't know whether Corby is guilty. That's for the judge to decide, but I'm not entirely sure she'll get a fair trial. As for the Bali nine, with the amount of media attention surrounding the Corby case, it would be impossible to plead ignorance of the law. These people, aware of Indonesia's draconian laws on the crime, accepted the risks when they went on their little adventure, so it's hard for me to feel pity for them. They entered into a premeditated gamble and, having lost, should not expect to walk away as if the game they played never happened.

But neither do I really accept Indonesia's tought stance on drugs, and nor do I really understand how our government, whose citizens may be executed, and who would have an ethical oppostion to such a law being enacted in Australia, could sit idly by and accept the execution because it is carried out outside of the Australian border. It's absurd. Especially when we pause and reflect how, during wars, the Geneva Convention does not allow you to kill those who are your captives even if, only a few minutes earlier, they were killing you! Unbelievable that the rules of war are more humane than the conventions of diplomacy or whatever.

And since I am on the subject of thing like drugs, aside from addiction, why do people still turn towards them? Why can't they see the harm it will cause to themselves or others? Why would the do that just to look 'cool'? Why must taking/ selling drugs, among other things, be a pre-requisite to being 'cool'?

I'm not entirely sure if it's about being 'cool'. Life is about sensations and experiences, and drugs probably provide some of the more spectacular ones. Personally I wouldn't mind experimenting with some sort of halucinogen, just for a taste of something beyond mediocre reality.