US President George W Bush says has dismissed any chance of a review of America's system of capital punishment.
Over the weekend the outgoing governor of the state of Illinois, George Ryan, commute the sentences of all 167 inmates on death row in his state to life in prison.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Mr Bush believed the death penalty deters crime and had no plans to order a review the system.
By Ronald Ryan 14 January 03
Ed: At a time when pick pockets ransacked the gatherings outside public hangings in old England. At a time when hawkers picking pockets got the death penalty, means that the death penalty does not deter crime.
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