ID: HR19-709

Presenting author: Julian McMahon

Presenting author biography:

Julian McMahon AC SC is a criminal law barrister in Australia. He was part of the team who defended Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, executed in Indonesia on 29 April 2015.

Drugs and the Death Penalty: Language and advocacy in Asia

Julian McMahon, Sara Kowal, Jacinta Smith, Matthew Goldberg

Issue -
Asia continues to execute large numbers of drug offenders despite the fact that international law does not recognise drug related offences as ‘the most serious crimes’.

Setting -
Despite a lengthy period without utilising the death penalty, in 2015-2016 Indonesia conducted 14 executions of foreign nationals found guilty of drug trafficking. The Indonesian government justify their use of the death penalty as resulting from a cultural view that drug offences are amongst the most serious crimes, citing public support for the death penalty as a roadblock to abolition.

Project –
A strictly legal approach is not sufficient to create the momentum necessary to secure law reform. In addition to applying pressure through national and international legal avenues, a broader approach is needed.

Policy makers need to be armed with cross-discipline research, analysis and strategies which embrace a holistic and constructive approach to the complex problem of addiction, drug crime, and the punishment of drug users and drug offenders.

To be effective, this work needs to present a full analysis of the legal and cultural justifications of the status quo, which is part of our proposed work.

To this end, in 2019 Reprieve Australia, in partnership with the students at the Monash University Anti-Death Penalty Clinic, is conducting research, into the legal and political rhetoric used by the Indonesian government to maintain its position in relation to death penalty. In understanding the paradigm preserved by politicians in relation to drug use and addiction in Indonesia, the research aims to inform strategies for multi-disciplinary approaches to re-frame the debate.

Outcome -
Reprieve Australia’s project will provide a comprehensive review of the rationale and logic of executions in Indonesia. In turn this has the potential to inform fact-based strategies to challenge the perceptions and language of drug crimes in Indonesia.