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News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2005
Death Penalty to be Stricken Wire services
The Chamber of Deputies on Thursday approved a measure striking the death penalty from the constitution and inserting language expressly prohibiting capital punishment.
The amendment now must be passed by legislatures in a majority of the nation's 31 states, where it is expected to face little opposition.
The Mexican legal system has not put anyone to death since 1961, and courts usually refuse to extradite suspects to the United States or other countries if there is a chance they could wind up on death row.
But capital punishment is still technically legal, especially in military courts.
By a vote of 412-0, with two abstentions, lawmakers passed a measure approved in March by the Senate.
The vote came during a special House session convened during what is normally a recess period.
The constitution's Article 14 reads "no one can be deprived of life, liberty or their property, possessions or rights without a trial."
It would be modified and new language inserted that forbids legal executions, mutilations and other forms of cruel and unusual punishment. |
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