OPINION

Death not a deterrent

Re: "Prayut: 'death penalty necessary for peace'," (BP, June 19).

Those who support the death penalty and PM Prayut Chan-o-cha are mistaken in their belief that capital punishment will deter crime. As John Lamperti found, "If executions protected innocent lives through deterrence, that would weigh in the balance against capital punishment's heavy social costs. But despite years of trying, this benefit has not been shown to exist." People interested in this debate should read "Does Capital Punishment Deter Murder?" which can be found online by searching the following terms: dartmouth, chance, teaching aids, books, articles.

Also, on June 19, 2018, the Thai TV show Kom Chad Luek had two experts discuss capital punishment with one expert pro punishment and the other against it. Surprisingly, both experts agreed that executions had not been proven to deter murder and killers still believed they wouldn't be caught. Both sides also agreed that there was always a chance that the court could make a mistake in their judgment.

It's for these reasons that countries are increasingly abolishing capital punishment. We should educate ourselves, and follow suit.

The problem with the death penalty is that an innocent person might be executed for a crime they didn't commit. Even if a person on death row is not totally innocent, they don't deserve to be executed.

Why not pass a bill which abolishes the death penalty as long as there are guarantees that certain heinous criminals will automatically get life imprisonment without the possibility of parole? Of course we'll have to define "heinous" for it to work.

Here is my response to the June 21 letter by Micheal Setter on "SET passing the buck", regarding the lethargic SET and near collapse of the MAI Index, despite Thailand's economic rebound.

Surely, the Thai brokerage industry is also to blame in their long "song-and-dance way" of inducing retail investors into hyper trading activity, against their investor mandate and objective. This results in churn and burn practices which over time incur losses. Such poor investor experiences have resulted in a slow but steady flight of individual investors who now account for barely 40% of SET volume versus 65-70% in the not too distant past. Why is nobody concerned about this?

There is an established ill-practice of offering foreign individual investors access to Thai IPOs without any English prospectuses even though institutions abroad get these. This results in a discriminatory investor practice for key information. An increase in volume of derivative warrants, a highly leveraged trading program offered by brokers which can distort the SET, or worse may manipulate it, has occurred because it is outside the SET/SEC watchdog.

These and more deviations in local broker practices are hurting investor confidence and the image of the SET as a legitimate, fair and transparent saving vehicle for investors.

With regards to the June 21 letter by Rupert Sedgewich Smedley-Pryce (Col Ret ROPS, OHMS), making an issue of Old Crutch's reference to Nakhon Nayok as a road to nowhere, bravo to Old Crutch.

I live in Prachin Buri and the only route from Bangkok to Prachin is via the road through Nakhon Nayok. It is indeed a road to nowhere, through nowhere, leading to almost nowhere. Try the drive sometimes, Mr Rupert Sedgewich Smedley-Pryce (Col Ret ROPS, OHMS). You might wind up in nowhere. Pack a picnic lunch. You can have your picnic in a rice field of your choice, or in a field surrounded by grazing buffalo.

Re: "Halal hullabaloo", (PostBag, June 21).

Peter Atkins should be aware that many national airlines from Muslim countries serve halal-only meals. El Al, the Israeli airline serves only kosher meals.

If the cabin attendant would not have mentioned it, or if "halal" had not been stamped on the plastic tray, then Mr Atkins would never in a million years have known the difference. As for avoiding meat at his destination because he would not know whether or not it was halal, well, that is his business, but this is the lamest excuse I have ever heard.

Contact: Bangkok Post Building 136 Na Ranong Road Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110 fax: +02 6164000 Email: postbag@bangkokpost.co.th

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