Many gansters had wives or girlfriends. Most times, these women became permanent fixtures in the lives of these kingpins and criminal lords. Whether they were legally married or simply shacking up, they earned the title of being their partner’s girlfiend or wife. With the title comes the respect that is fit for a queen.

10. Andrea Giovino

This mother of 4 would not even give thought to the idea of going into Witness Protection, even though she knew there was a contract on her life. In 1992, Andrea Giovino was indicted along with her “husband” and brother on drug charges. As a favor, in return for her co-defendant’s co-operation, she was simply relocated.

Andrea became romantically involved with Frank Lino but the two were never legally married. She lived a wonderful life with him and he was a great father to her children; they had none together. When Lino was incarcerated, Andrea claims that she had to take the reigns and become a mobster herself. Many people question some of her stories and she is often referred to as a mob groupie. This is mostly because she was an attorney, who knew nothing about mob life until her divorced lover taught her everything she needed to know.

9. Maria Victoria Henoa

Columbian drug lord, Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, was a very efficient criminal. He was able to elude authorities for a long time, as he built his riches from his cocaine empire. During his time as a criminal, he acquired many homes, cars and airplanes.  In the latter part of the 1980’s, he even tried his hand at politics in Columbia.

In the spring of 1976, 26 year old Escobar married Maria Victoria; she was 11 years his junior. She lived a good life with her husband and two children. By 1989, Forbes had listed the man’s worth at $24 billion. Still, her husband was a criminal and found himself fleeing constantly to elude capture. He lived many years away from his family but close enough to always know what was going on. Ever the loyal wife, she aided her husband in remaining hidden. That is, until authorities caught on.

Unable to flee Columbia, and under constant surveillance and guard,  the wife of the ruthless killer was under pressure. Informed that she would soon be left alone if her husband didn’t surrender, she asked authorities to give him more time. Escobar didn’t surrender; he had to be found. Unfortunately, he was also killed in December of 1993, by Columbian National Police.

After her husband’s death, Maria Victoria Henoa attempted to start a real estate company. Upon finding out her true identity, her accountant tried to blackmail her. When she tried to report it, she was forced to reveal her identity and ties to Pablo Escobar.  Subsequently, she was detained and imprisoned for 1 ½ years on money laundering charges.

8. Virginia Hill

Virginia Hill was a courier for an organized crime outfit that was stationed in Chicago. However, she is known more for her role as the girlfriend of Genovese Crime family mobster, Bugsy Siegel. In 1951, Hill was subpoenaed to testify in court, before a committee that was specially put together to investigate the underworld movements of the mob. She denied being aware of any organized crime. She also told investigators that she maintained her lifestyle with gifts that her many boyfriends gave her because of her sexual abilities.

Virginia left for Europe when she was charged with tax evasion. She remained there until the time of her suspicious death in 1966. It was believed that she had committed suicide, by taking sleeping pills. However, her body was found near a stream, just two days after she met with a former lover. That old lover was Joe Adonis; one-time Genovese family boss. Adonis swore that he had two of his bodyguards escort the woman home. She never made it. Many believed that she tried to use what she knew about the Italian Mafia to swindle money from the man.

7. Mayme Hatcher Johnson

Mayme Hatcher was born in North Carolina in 1914. At the age of 24, she moved to NYC and got a job as a waitress. Ten years after her arrival in the city, she met and married Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson. As the wife of one of Harlem’s most infamous gangster’s, Mayme was treated with the utmost respect anywhere she went. Her husband spoiled her with the finest things that money could by. However, there was a downside. There were women all over the city who wanted Bumpy for them self, she was constantly accosted by them.

Mayme never took part in any of her husband’s criminal activities. By all reports, she was as classy as they came. She carried herself with respect and never let her husband’s life interfere with hers. However, she stood by him; even when his criminal life had him arrested over 40 times and sentenced to 10 years in Alcatraz.

Mayme Thatcher Johnson passed away in 2009, at the age of 94. Just a year prior to her death, she finished the biography about her husband that she had wanted to put out for most of her life. She refused to leave the world without people knowing who her husband truly was.

6. Linda Schiro (Scarpa)

Linda is the wife of notorious former mob boss, Gregory Scarpa, better known as the “Grim Reaper” and “The Mad Hatter”.  Scarpa was given his nickname by his peers when it became evident that he was one of the most feared hit-men in the city’s organized crime network.  He was also the primary enforcer for Carmine Persico, head of the Colombo family.

Known as Big Linda, since her daughter bears the same name, Linda Schiro began seeing Scarpa at the age of 17. So, she spent the majority of her life in high style and class. Having all of the best things that money could afford. In her 30 years with her lover, she had become accustomed to dinner and diamonds. But all good things come to an end.

Scarpa died in prison in 1994, of Aids. Big Linda is now reduced to living in a rented apartment and living hand to mouth. Her husband’s fall from grace with the mob, which led to a 7 month war between families, has left her destitute. No one ever figured out what happened to the millions that the Grim Reaper earned over the years. All that remains is evidence that a life that once was filled with ill-gotten gains has paid the ultimate price, with poverty.

5. Julie Lucas

Renowned gangster, Frank Lucas was a country boy from North Carolina, who turned Harlem into a heroin haven. As a drug dealer and organized crime boss, he turned the African American dream neighborhood into a nightmare throughout the 60’s and 70’s. Still, behind every bad boy, is a bad girl.

Julianna Farrait was a young Puerto Rican homecoming queen. She fell in love with the local heroine king and soon became his wife in 1972. The two shared a lavish lifestyle, full of expensive gifts, Mercedes Benzes and diamonds. Julie’s loyalty to her husband became evident when she spent five years in prison for the part she played in Frank’s criminal activities. Upon her release from prison, the two separated. However, there was reconciliation in 2006. The couple has been married for more than 4 decades.

They say that old habits are hard to break and it was proven in 2010 when 70 year old Farrait was arrested in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She allegedly attempted to sell 2 kilograms of cocaine to a police informant. Federal agents from New York had been keeping an eye on the gangster’s wife for nearly a year.

4. Victoria Gotti

This blond beauty is a double edged sword. She was born and married to the mob; as the daughter of John Gotti and wife of Carmine Agnello. Carmine was a member of the Gambino crime family and he ran a scrap metal business. The two lovebirds first got together in the 1970’s.

The Gotti name is infamous and her father was one of the most feared mob bosses in the country. Her husband wasn’t a slouch in the world of tough guys either. However, Victoria raised some eyebrows after the death of her 12 year old son, Frank. In the spring of 1980, Frank Gotti was struck by a car and killed while he was riding a mini-bike, not too far away from his home. Unfortunately, the driver of the car was back fence neighbor, John Favara.

The grief stricken mother asked for an eye for an eye and the local police were warned that he was to be “terminated”. After seeking advice from a mob friend, Favara was told he should unload his house and leave town. That summer, Victoria and her father went to Florida on vacation. During their absence, John Favara had disappeared. He was eventually declared legally dead.

3. Mary Evelyn “Billie” Frechette

Mary Evelyn Frechette, also known as Billie, met John Dillinger in 1933. She experienced her first taste of her boyfriend’s criminal life that same year. As the couple was leaving a Chicago doctor’s office, a shootout ensued. Later that year, Dillinger’s buddy killed a police sergeant; forcing the gang to leave the city. Evelyn left with them and traveled through Florida, to Arizona; where they were both arrested. Evelyn was released because she couldn’t be identified under the alias she used. Evelyn was present during many of the crimes committed by the man declared Public Enemy #1; including the ST. Paul shootout that took place after his escape from jail.

Billie was arrested for harboring the fugitive. Dillinger watched her arrest from a about a block away.  She was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison; she served two years and a day. After her release, she traveled with John’s family and told stories of her life. She would later settle down again and live the rest of her days out on the Indian Reservation on which she was born.

2. Helen Gillis

Lester “Baby Face Nelson” married Helen Gillis in 1928. Throughout the duration of their marriage, she would never use her husband’s last name, but she did embark on a life of crime with him. In 1934, the couple became part of the infamous Dillinger gang. Together, they took part in bank robberies and crimes across the country.

It was in the spring of that same year that FBI agents tracked the gang to the Little Bohemia Lodge, Wisconsin. Although they were surrounded, the men got away, leaving the women who were traveling with them behind; including Gillis. In November 1934, Lester Gillis was fatally wounded in a shootout with FBI agents; who also resulted in the death of the agents. Loyal to the man that she shared a life of crime with, Helen refused to leave his body behind. She took it with her and an associate, as they left the scene of the shootout. He died in his wife’s arms.

Two days after the naked body of Lester “Baby Face” Nelson was found in a ditch, near a cemetery, Helen Gillis turned herself in. She was sentenced to one year and a day at the Women’s Federal Reformatory in Michigan.

1. Bonnie Parker

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker is the female half of the outlaw duo, Bonnie and Clyde. The couple was made infamous by their criminal activities across the United States between 1931 and 1934.

Bonnie met Clyde Barrow in 1929, at the age of 19; a year after her three year marriage had fallen apart. They instantly fell in love. Bonnie joined her new beau and his gang on the road. As a criminal organization, they robbed banks, general stores and of course, there were murders. The gang, including Bonnie, became some of the country’s most wanted criminals. Ironically, there have been stories told by victims of the gang about how polite and caring the criminals were.

Bonnie made history with her lover. They were known around the world. It seemed they did everything together. It would only be natural that they die together, as well.  On May 23^rd, 1934, the car carrying Bonnie and Clyde was ambushed on a Louisiana Road. They died in a hail of 130 rounds.

As you can see, even the most ruthless men had love in their lives. Some of them lived, committed crimes and died together. Some left their women behind, in an effort to protect them. Some left their loves behind after they paid with their lives.

These women loved their criminal minded men. They knew them in ways that no one else did; which is probably why they could love them as no one else could. Love has the power to make even the hardest and coldest man, go totally soft.

There is an old saying in regards to female dogs that reject their pups; “Any bitch can have a baby but that don’t make it a mother.” This same adage can be associated with multiple women, who have come before the courts with murder charges over their heads. Their victims are the innocent children that they have given birth to. Some of the stories are horrendous; while all of them are unbelievable. Here are 10 women who will forever be remembered for the murdering monsters that they truly are:

10. China Arnold

China Arnold was spared the death penalty in Ohio but sentenced to life, without the chance of parole. Arnold was convicted of murder after placing her 3 week old daughter in a microwave, following a fight about paternity with her intoxicated boyfriend.

The young mother placed the child in the appliance and turned it on. It was determined by medical experts that she was in the oven for more than 2 minutes, raising her body temperature to nearly 110 degrees.

9. Madeline Carmichael

(A picture of Madeline was not available. The woman in the picture is the murdered child’s older sister, Sabrina. She is holding the book which tells Latanisha’s story.)

In 1999, at age 61, Madeline Carmichael found herself on trial for the murder of her daughter, Latanisha. The 3 year old had been dead for 20 years. The story unfolded when the toddler’s twin brother began to ask questions in regards to a sister that he remembered having. Upon speaking to his older sibling, Sabrina, his memories were confirmed. Yet, he also discovered that his twin had been beaten to death by his mother and brother in 1979.

The siblings took their astonishing story to authorities, who at first had a hard time believing it. After conducting some in depth research, it became evident that the child did exist but had suddenly fallen off of the face of the Earth. Armed with a search warrant, police entered the home of Madeline Carmichael; in search of a trunk that the living twin remembered getting in trouble for touching. Inside, were the mummified remains of 3 year old Latanisha Carmichael. Her body had moved with the family for 20 years. Madeline Carmichael didn’t serve much of her life sentence. She died of cancer shortly after being incarcerated.

8. Melissa Drexler

Melissa Drexler will forever be known as the “Prom Mom”. In June of 1997, the teenage girl attended her high school senior prom; where she gave birth to a baby in a toilet of the ladies room. She cut the cord with the sharp edge of a feminine product dispenser, swaddled the newborn in garbage bags and put the baby in the trash. Then, she went back to the prom.

The teen was able to keep her pregnancy a secret for the entire 9 months. No one suspected a thing since her small frame showed no signs. However, the jig was up when the janitor found the baby after reports of blood led him on a cleaning mission in the ladies room. Attempts to revive the infant were abandoned after two hours.

Drexler was charged with murder but managed a plea that allowed her to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter. As a result, in 1998 she was sentenced to the maximum 15 years. Yet, after serving just over three years, she was released on parole.

7. Darlie Lynn Routier

Darlie Lynn Routier is a Texas woman that is sitting on death row; waiting to die by lethal injection. Accused by authorities for the stabbing deaths of 2 of her 3 children, she was only convicted of the death of one. In the beginning, the mother was adamant that an intruder came into her family home and attacked her and her three children. However, forensics showed that there was something fishy about her story.

The children were covered in wounds that deeply penetrated their bodies. However, the wounds on Routier were superficial. It was later found that they were self-inflicted. The crime scene had also been cleaned. Darlie Routier never confessed to murdering her children, yet the evidence against her was staggering. In 2010, she was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Her family and friends still promote her innocence and are fighting for an appeal.

6. Diane Downs

Elizabeth Diane Downs was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1984. This was her punishment for the shootings and attempted murders of her three children. One of them died as a result of her actions. At the time of the incident, Downs told authorities that there was an attempted carjack. Of course, this later proved to be a lie. In 1987, Downs escaped prison and was on the run for a short period of time before being recaptured.

In the spring of 1983, Diane Downs shot her three children, with all intentions of killing them. To make the story of the attempted carjacking more realistic, she went so far as to shoot herself in the arm. However, witnesses saw Downs’ car as she drove the children to hospital in an attempt to save them. She was so desperate for help that she drove a mere 5 miles per hour. Her calm demeanor at the hospital raised red flags. And it all came to a head when one of her surviving children, unable to speak after suffering a stroke, expressed fear and an increased heart rate when Downs came to visit her. Forensic evidence didn’t support Diane’s story either. She was arrested 9 months after the shooting.

5. Fionna Donnison

The UK was rocked when 45 year old Fionna Donnison showed up in front of local authorities to confess that she had killed her two small children and was turning herself in. Police in Heathfied, Sussex thought that the woman was intoxicated when she arrived at their offices. Suspicion was raised when they noticed the cuts on her wrists.

Fionna Donnison smothered her three year old son and two year old daughter, as a way to pay their father back for leaving her. When he began another relationship with an old school friend, Donnison showed up at the lover’s home to warn that he would never see the children again. She suffocated the children, placed them each in a duffel bag and placed them in the trunk of her car. She turned herself in later on that evening.

After her incarceration, it came to light that Fionna may have also been the cause of the death of the couple’s first child, Mia, when the infant was nine months old. It was originally believed that the child died from what is known as “cot death”; the equivalent of America’s SIDS. After re-examination, Fionna Donnison was charged with the death of the infant, in addition to the other 2 deaths. It was alleged that to strike back at her lover for attending a function for his ex-wife, Fionna smothered the child. A judge later dismissed the additional charges. Donnison was convicted of 2 counts of murder and sentenced to 32 years in jail.

4. Theresa Riggi

Scotland shocked when 47 year old mother, Theresa Riggi, plead guilty to culpable homicide  in the case brought against her in the death of her 3 children. The original charge was murder. The body of her 8 year old twins and 5 year old daughter were found in her home in 2010, after what was thought to be a gas explosion in the apartment. The problem was that the bodies were covered in stab wounds.

While speaking with her estranged husband, 48 hours before the murders, Theresa was made aware of his intentions to seek custody of the children. She reportedly told him that he should say goodbye. She stabbed each child 8 times and then threw herself off of the balcony, with all intentions of killing herself. Riggi was sentenced to 18 years, which was reduced by two years due to her entering an early plea.

3. Susan Smith

In July 1995, Susan Smith was sentenced to life in prison. The charge was murder. The victims were her 3 year old and 14 month old sons.

On October 24^th 1994, the 24 year old mother put the boys in the car and strapped them into their car seats. She would later confess that she was having suicidal thoughts and her first thought was to travel to her mother’s home. However, she changed her mind somewhere along the drive. She detoured and drove to the John D. Long Lake.

When Susan arrived at the lake, she positioned the car on the lake’s ramp. She then exited the car, leaving her two small children inside. She put the care in drive, disengaged the brakes and watched as her sleeping children drifted away and the car disappeared.

Susan ran to a nearby home and concocted a story about an African American man abducting her children. She stuck to her original story for more than a week. Unbelievably, Smith’s story unraveled behind a simple lie about a red light. She reported that the car was stopped at a red light when the carjacking and abduction took place but there were no other cars around to bear witnesses. What Susan didn’t know was that the light stayed green unless it was tripped by a vehicle in the crosswalk. On November 3^rd 1994, Smith confessed to killing her sons and gave authorities the location of her car. The boys were still in their car seats.

2. Andrea Yates

In 2002, Andrea Pia Yates was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in the 2001 drowning deaths of her five children. However, that conviction was overturned in 2005, after a major outcry in regards to the woman’s mental state at the time of the murders.  As a result of the appeal, Yates was tried again and in 2006, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Her defense relied on the effects of sever postpartum depression and psychosis. Andrea was committed to a high security mental facility in Texas. In 2007, she was transferred to a low security facility.

Andrea Yates never denied drowning her children. In fact, she admitted to thinking of committing the crime 2 years prior to actually doing it. Facts that were revealed about the day the deaths took place made it hard for many to believe that the mother wasn’t fully aware of what she was about to do; like the fact that she locked up the family dog before killing the children. Yates will spend the rest of her life in mental facilities, which should make it easy to prevent her desire to have more children.

1. Marybeth Tinning

Marybeth Tinning (Roe) killed nine of her children, over the course of more than a decade. She was sentenced to 20 to life sentence in 1987. Ironically, it was only after being charged and convicted in the death of only one of those children.

Between 1965 and 1970, Marybeth had 2 children with her husband, Joe. In 1971, she gave birth to Jennifer, her third child; who died a few weeks later without ever leaving the hospital. A month later, in January of 1972, Marybeth rushed her 2 year old son to the hospital with claims he had suffered a seizure. Finding nothing wrong, doctors sent the boy home. Only for him to return to the emergency room later on the same night. Except this time he was dead.

Over the next 13 years, this pattern would be repeated. Tinning’s children would be rushed to the hospital on a regular basis, none of them ever surviving. It wasn’t until the death of her ninth child, in 1985 that any suspicions were aroused around the fact that Tinning was always alone when the deaths of her children occurred. After an investigation, Marybeth Tinning confessed to smothering some of her children. She tried to recant the statement but it was too late. Since her incarceration, Tinning has been denied parole multiple times. She will try again in 2013.

As you can see, unfortunately, it was very easy for some women to commit the ultimate crime. Cold and callous, none of these women thought twice about the actions that they took. In fact, the only time they thought again was to calculate in-depth lies and deceit, to make sure that they had a story that would cover their evil deeds. It will always boggle the mind of anyone sane when a mother kills her child. Common sense will surely tell any thinking person that something is wrong with a person who can commit such a heinous crime. The problem is, common sense isn’t all too common. If it were, this list wouldn’t be here.

However, in the 2009 world, killing a criminal is more and more being considered a barbaric, even evil practice with revenge instead of retribution being the sole motivating factor. The idea that revenge alone is the only reason the worst criminals are executed is ludicrous, as the sustaining belief of “eye for an eye” has had many valid supporting arguments throughout history along with valid, tangible results. Let’s explore ten of the most preeminent and credible arguments that justify what should be the most difficult thing any human being can do: cutting another’s life short.

10. More Humane than other Forms of Punishment

Compared to “incapacitation”, which is a kinder phrase for lobotomy, or sentencing a criminal to solitary confinement for the next 25-50 years, executing a criminal may seem like a more humane option. A criminal sentenced to life without parole will never again see daylight, and will have to consider the consequences of their crime until the day they die. From an emotional standpoint, ending this elongated, intense level of suffering for a prisoner could be considered a mercy.

9. Life Imprisonment Changes

Surprisingly, life in prison without the possibility of parole does not always mean a criminal will truly remain in prison until the day they die. Stacey Lannert, convicted for the 1990 murder of her sexually-abusive father, served 18 years of a life without parole sentence before receiving a full pardon by outbound Missouri governor Matt Blunt in January 2009. Lisa Connelly, one of the seven responsible for the 1993 Florida murder of Bobby Kent, was able to reduce her sentence of life in prison to 22 years upon appeal. In 2004, Connelly was released, despite being one of the primary planners of the Bobby Kent slaying. Through time, law changes, political authority figures change, and points of view on the death penalty change. Given enough time, yesterday’s child-killer may become today’s “lifer”, then tomorrow’s parolee.

8. Cost

A common, even credible argument amidst anti-death penalty proponents regards the financial implications of executing a prisoner, which is far more expensive than simply imprisoning them for life. Statistically, this is true. Deathpenaltyinfo.org reports that in the state of Maryland, it can cost up to $37 million to execute a death row inmate rather than keeping them alive and imprisoned annually at around $1 million per year. However, while the execution figures factor in costs of an inmate’s numerous appeals, the figures representing the cost to keep a prisoner alive per year do not. “Lifers” are equally likely to pursue the same avenues as death row inmates to overturn their fate, which can be equally expensive. Given that those sentenced to life without parole have an indefinite period of time to appeal, unlike a death row inmate, in the long run the financial cost of housing a lifer will easily surpass the cost of housing a death row inmate.

7. Necessity

Under the law of most militaries throughout history, the crimes of murder, mutiny, treason, and desertion during a war time warrant a mandatory, (and even on the spot) death sentence. However, during a time of war, where survival of an army and even the civilization that army is represents is at stake, death may be the only reasonable punitive tactic to employ. Under full abolition of the death penalty, some of the criminals who would see lives lost through their lawlessness or cowardice would have to waste the time of those fighting the war through the lengthy judicial process, and in war, time and manpower makes all the difference.

6. The Fairness of the Death Row Process

In the United States, the process of convicting and executing a criminal is an exhaustive and lengthy one which definitely lends a little validity to the fairness of the process. The vast majority of criminals sentenced to death have several avenues available to contest their condemnation, from their state’s governor, their states court of appeals, Amnesty International, and even the United States Supreme Court.

Even after a criminal has been condemned to die, some have been known to appeal the decision for up to three decades before finally receiving a date of execution. Even then, the smallest technicality can result in a stay of execution, a commutation of the sentence, or as in Glen Chapman’s case, a full release from prison. While attitudes of the death penalty naturally vary from legal system to legal system worldwide, all legal systems generally acknowledge the value of a person’s life, and take the decision to end a human’s life very seriously. Errors will occur in any justice system, but the through due process of executions, above the process of any other punitive measure, may make the margin for error in capital punishment cases that much smaller. It’s far more likely that those facing death are actually guilty of their crime as a result.

5. Removal of a Threat to Society

Even though Saddam Hussein was captured and tried via an Iraqi tribunal in 2005, he still remained a threat; one of his tribunal judges was assassinated before the trial even began. Charles “Lucky” Luciano, possibly the most successful organized crime leader in history, didn’t retire after being deported to Italy for the remainder of his life; he continued to control American organized crime long after his exile. Pablo Escobar, a criminal so ruthless he allegedly mailed witnesses invitations to their own funerals, was not only able to control his criminal empire from a luxurious prison, but he was also able to escape with a disturbing level of ease. Some criminals are truly above the law, in that their influence can reach the outside world even if they are behind bars. For this reason, some criminals are simply too dangerous to live at all.

4. Religious Doctrine

The doctrines of the world’s majority religions, which is to say the Bible, the Torah, and the Quran, have occurrences where the death penalty is not only supported, but staunchly endorsed. If the Bible and Torah are any indication, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:23-25) makes it very clear what a religious conservative’s opinion on the death penalty should be. In seeing a religious conservative’s point of view, who are they to argue with the word of God? As a result, the death penalty has and will continue to be one of the strongest arguments for death penalty, especially in countries where religious doctrine has a strong influence on legal doctrine, such as countries within the Middle East, Israel, and even the United States.

3. Deterrent to Crime

The film “The Usual Suspects” suggests that criminals fear the enigmatic “Keyser Soze” more than anything in the world, but that’s just a movie. In reality, the words “Singapore Justice” can make even the most hardened criminal cry like a baby, and it has. In Singapore, drug and gun running, weapons infractions, and murder can all carry a mandatory death sentence, and the Singapore legal system will hardly blink while passing it down. Singaporean law isn’t just tough on capital punishment; smoking a cigarette in a no-smoking area can easily net an offender a $1,000 fine.

We could easily pass this attitude off as barbaric and unnecessary…if it didn’t actually work. The crime rate gap between Singapore and the United States is rather vast; in fact Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. In a country where smuggling over 50 grams of heroin is certain to result in the same punishment as slaughtering another human being, obviously, a criminal has to decide if breaking the law at all is really worth their life. The United States justice system does not guarantee death to a criminal in the same way Singapore’s justice system guarantees it. For a murderer with strong evidence against them, chances are there is no plea bargain to commute the offense, no twenty years of appeals, no governors who will swoop in at the 11th hour to grant clemency for the condemned. As evidenced by Singapore’s low crime rate, simply having a “law-bide or die” stance, backed up through examples, may be the most efficient and cheapest known way to prevent capital crimes.

2. Retribution

Forget the financial cost of executing a criminal; forget the legal obligations to rid society of an incorrigible, violent lawbreaker. Forget all arguments against and for death penalty, and the people who wage this war of beliefs on the internet, in print, and in courtrooms. Forget the rights of the criminal, forget the judge, forget the legal aspect of trying and punishing a criminal completely.

As long as you remember the victims.

While what constitutes an offense punishable by death differs around the globe, there is still one constant between these offenses: someone is harmed. With murder being the worst of all offenses, the victim is far from the only one to suffer. The family and friends of a victim will have to live with not only the pain of losing a loved one, but they must recognize that the person responsible for their loss still lives while the victim does not. Long after a death row sentence has been handed down, a criminal still eats, breathes, and in the case of criminals such as notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, even father children. If it’s infuriating for the average person to know that serial rapist and murderer Ted Bundy was actually privileged enough to procreate, imagine how infuriating it would be for the family of one of Bundy’s victims to know the same thing.

Victims of murder cannot avenge themselves, only the law and those closest to the victim can do this. A victim’s family feels, rightfully so, that they are obligated to attain justice for the victim. This isn’t justice in the traditional sense, but retribution. If you’ve (hopefully) never lost a loved one to violence, consider for a moment the person you love most is taken away from you because a criminal wanted their money, or just wanted to know what it felt like to take a life. Maybe you’d want to see such a person dead, maybe you wouldn’t, but regardless of race, color, or creed, the thing you’d probably want most is a little payback. I don’t imagine there’d be anyway you could truly have your mind at ease without some level of retribution.

It isn’t possible to bring back a loved one lost to violence, but bringing peace of mind, a remarkably priceless thing, may be the only true consolation a legal system can provide.

1. Justice

“May the punishment fit the crime.” At the risk of being biased, this is definitely the best definition of justice that has ever existed or ever will exist.

A desire for justice is one of the inherent qualities of most humans, and it prevents society from falling into a despotic chaos where the average, peaceful person would be subject to the anger, violence, and madness of criminals. A society’s law, and the justice that is dispensed by its hands, is ultimately what keeps the citizenry of that society safe at night if anything does.

In places where the death penalty is an option, it is one of the cornerstones of justice.

For the sake of society’s stability, fair and swift justice must always exist, and the complete removal of people who would destroy that society through crime is absolutely necessary. The death penalty serves this purpose better than any other form of punishment, as it ultimately ensures that a criminal can never harm another person again. From the perspective of justice, the death penalty serves any given populace by erasing its worst element: the criminal one.

There are countless arguments raging about the death penalty in venues ranging from the dinner table to the Supreme Court, and some of them simply make you wonder if the death penalty truly is the right thing to do. Here are ten of the most common and best arguments against administering the ultimate form of judicial retribution.

10. Geographical Bias

The death penalty is not legal in every American state, nor is it legal in every worldwide country. In fact, the majority of countries and continents in the world either have a full ban on the death penalty, have excluded the death penalty for every crime short of crimes against humanity, or have the death penalty but choose to almost never administer it.

If one criminal kills two families of four in Calgary, Canada, and another is a pre-meditated cop-killer is the state of Texas, legally, the first criminal has a 0% chance of execution while the second criminal pretty much has a 100% chance of execution. Two reprehensible crimes, but the perpetrator of the worst of the two crimes will not be punished to the same extent as his counterpart. Not sure how this is fair.

9. Financial Bias

In at least America, if you can afford the right lawyer, you’ve got the best legal system in the world. As we’ve learned from celebrities, businessmen, and possibly even political figures in the past, a person can get away with almost anything with the right amount of stature or money. As an example, regardless of O.J. Simpson’s true innocence or guilt in the murders of which he was accused, it is a commonly held belief that without the assistance of Johnny Cochrane, Robert Shapiro, and various other legal experts Simpson had retained, he would’ve been found guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown and Rob Goldman for certain. At the time, pleading not guilty to double murder in California carried with it only two punishments: life imprisonment and execution. With the money to afford some of the best lawyers in the country, people who know how juries tick and have virtuoso skill in creating reasonable doubt, the outcome just might’ve been different.

8. Innocents

Folks, contrary to popular belief and as the advent of DNA evidence has proven to us, not everyone who is imprisoned is guilty of the crime of which they were convicted. In 2008, Glen Chapman, who spent 13 years on death row, was set free due to the discovery that an investigator from his first trial withheld critical evidence. Another inmate, John Ballard, was released from death row after a judge ruled his case should’ve never even come to initial trial. What is scary isn’t the thought that a man could spend over a decade waiting to die for a crime they didn’t commit, it’s how many times its probably actually happened, and how responsible the legal system could be for the deaths of the same innocent people it’s designed to protect.

7. Gender Bias

“Since 1977, nearly 1,100 inmates have been executed in the U.S.; only 11 were women, “according to sentencing.typead.com. While this could be attributed to the fact that less women are in prison than men, from the eyes of a jury, it is also possible that a woman who commits a violent crime still cannot be seen as threatening as a man who commits the same crime, so electing a death sentence for a female criminal would be harder.

6. Contradictory to the Constitution

The American constitution vehemently and bluntly outlaws the use of cruel and unusual punishment as an option during the process of enforcing justice upon criminals. However, the electric chair, which has been known to combust people sentenced to die by it, was the choice method of execution for nearly a century. While the lethal injection is currently the choice form of execution, the electric chair may still be employed, as can a firing squad or a hanging. The government continues to search for a humane method of taking a life whereas the act of taking a life is by definition inhumane.

5. The Punishment Doesn’t Always Fit the Crime

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, in 2003, 23 year-old Australian Nguyen Tuong Van reportedly “wept and punched through a wall” when he was arrested for attempting to smuggle 396.2 grams into Singapore. Perhaps Mr. Van was a quite upset over the fact that if found guilty at trial, he faced certain death. Singapore, possibly the strictest of all countries concerning law and punishment worldwide, is also one of the few countries that will enforce the death penalty for drug-related offenses. Under Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act, an individual faces a mandatory death sentence for smuggling 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, 500 grams of marijuana, 200 grams of hashish, and can face the death penalty for so much as trying to manufacture drugs. Kidnapping, arms trafficking, and illegally carrying a gun also carry a mandatory death sentence. Similarly, Australian “Ganja Queen” Schapelle Corby initially faced the death penalty under Indonesian law when she was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 4.2 kg of cannabis across Indonesian borders.

These examples prove you don’t need to take a life to legally forfeit your own in every corner of the world, and while a smuggler’s home country can attempt to save their citizen, ultimately the country they committed the crime in has the final say. While the death penalty wasn’t enforced on Schapelle Corby, who many believe to be innocent, she will not see release from prison until 2024. Unfortunately for Nguyen Tuong Van, the courts of Singapore very much meant business: he was executed by hanging in 2005.

4. Ignores Possibility of Redemption

Retribution vs. Redemption. Possibly the most controversial death penalty case within the past several years, Stanley “Tookie” Williams, who was sentenced to death for four murders in 1979, petitioned for clemency prior to his date of execution in 2005. While Stanley Williams was initially hostile during his imprisonment, he began to redeem himself through acting as an anti-gang activist, writing children’s books that taught anti-gang morals, and apologizing for the co-founding of the Crips. If genuine atonement and redemption is possibly for a horrible crime, Stanley Williams may have stood as an example of it. Williams was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to this effect.

When Williams’ clemency was denied and his execution was carried out in December 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said about this about the denial of clemency: “Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings there can be no redemption. In this case, the one thing that would be the clearest indication of complete remorse and full redemption is the one thing Williams will not do.”

Is setting terms for genuine redemption really the fair thing to do, especially when you don’t genuinely know a person? Redemption is still possible even if a criminal doesn’t fit into an individual’s view of redemption. One criminal might attempt to redeem themselves by donating money to the family of his victims, another might simply confess to the crime. If there is even a chance a person seeks to atone for their actions, they become capable of doing good things, which makes them more valuable to the human race alive than dead.

3. Racial Bias

If 2009 stats are any indication, the chances of a criminal going to death row are higher than that of any other race. African-Americans currently comprise 45% of the death row population, while Caucasians comprise 41%. Death-penalty.info discovered that Sister Helen Prejean, one of America’s leading anti-death penalty proponents, conducted a study that revealed race plays a major role in the likelihood of a criminal receiving the death penalty for a capital crime. Although racial bias in the legal system is an entirely different, lengthier, and heated debate, true fairness in the legal system is impossible if a defendant is being judged by skin color. Entrusting a defendant’s life to a system that has an admitted bias, in itself, could be considered morally irresponsible.

2. Life in Prison as an Alternative

Tying a rope around a criminal’s neck, dropping them through a trap door so that they “hang by the neck until dead” and leaving them to rot within horrendous prison living standards until dead may vary greatly in the time it takes to die, but the outcome is still the same.

According to studious people of deathpenaltyinfo.org, the cost to house death row inmates is $63,000,000…just for one year. By comparison, housing life-imprisonment inmates is only $11,300,000 annually. If the outcome ultimately does not change, the criminal is out of society either way, justice is done, and taxpayer dollars can even be saved, why is the death penalty necessary?

Of course, there’s the argument that keeping someone on death row for 3-5 years is cheaper in the long run than leaving a criminal in prison for the next 25-50 years, think again. Lavell Frierson, who murdered Edgargo Kramer, stayed on death row for 27 years, in which his repeated appeals cost the state of San Francisco countless dollars. After 27 years, Frierson’s conviction was overturned for the third time in 2006, which renders all financial expenses to kill him a waste. Lavell isn’t even the longest to wait on death row, as Jack Alderman served on Death Row for 33 years before his execution in 2006.

Financially, this is the best option, though there may be one better morally…

1. “An Eye For An Eye Leaves the Whole World Blind”

The pieces of human filth that end the lives of others because of criminal need or even pleasure are truly monsters, but still, ending their lives will not bring back their victims back to life. The death of a murderer cannot bring peace to the victim, the death of a murderer cannot reverse the crime, and the death of a single murderer will never ensure that the act of murder never takes place again.

Let’s face it, the life of people who do these terrible things is of little value to the average person, but a life is still a life, regardless of that person’s crimes, and all lives are of some value. Do we advocate execution of the terminally ill because their lives are “already over”, or execute the mentally retarded because they may be unable to contribute to society on the same level of the average person? The law supposedly exists because the human eye shouldn’t be capable of judging or punishing a person, but the eyes of the law, through the judge and the jury, are still human.

Hypothetically, 12 people in a jury box deciding if a person should die for the crime of murder is no different than any 12 people who decide upon the value of a person’s life, based on the standards of their society. A jury that elects death for a serial arsonist and a group of Muslims that stone a woman for adultery are acting in the same capacity; they are obeying the law and serving the law by enforcing it. However, if human beings are imperfect, who are we to say what crimes give us the right to kill another? By giving ourselves the right to end another’s life, through the law or even through vigilantism, we share a common ground with the monsters who commit these crimes in the first place, and that ground should be far, far beneath the footing of any law-abiding human being.

However, for one reason or another, be it insanity or anger, greed or negligence, every once in a while, some of us fall foul of the law.

Fortunately, in most countries, the punishment fits the crime, and a petty theft, for example, will not result in a long prison sentence, or, if it’s a first offence, in any sentence at all, while a serious crime, like rape, murder or fraud, may result in longer terms, or even life imprisonment.

Justice varies from country to country, and even within the states or territories of that country and where a crime in one country may result in a more lenient sentence, there are some countries that have a zero tolerance policy, and deliver swift and final sentences, even including execution, for what we would consider a lesser offence.

In the middle east, for example, crimes such as rape, murder and stealing, have penalties that might include castration, death or having a hand cut off, in that order. In Thailand, dealing or transporting narcotics results in lengthy prison terms in very unpleasant jails, or even death, while in many other countries, penalties are more lenient, focusing on rehabilitation rather than retribution.

There have, however, been numerous cases of record breaking jail sentences being handed down, and this article focuses on the top ten. As the saying goes, crime does not pay, and since the criminals listed here had no chance of parole within their lifetimes, or, indeed, for many lifetimes thereafter in some cases, that saying is proved true.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that not all life sentences are created equal. In some countries, life in prison means twenty years, with an opportunity for parole after ten years. In others, like China, life imprisonment means imprisonment until death.

One question that always comes up when discussing inordinately long sentences, is why not just sentence these criminals to death. The answer to that, is that the cost of sentencing someone to death, and the subsequent appeals that opens up, is actually higher to the taxpaying public than keeping them incarcerated for so long is therefore less costly, and an effective method of keeping dangerous criminals off the street.

In cases where sentences numbering thousands of years, or multiple consecutive life sentences, are handed down, the idea is that even if the criminal becomes eligible for parole at sometime, that eligibility would occur well after their natural lives had been spent in prison, and therefore, amounts to a sentence for the rest of their natural lives.

It’s also interesting to note that sentencing, in the United States, for the rest of your natural life, can no longer be appealed – the only way to rescind that type of sentence, is to be pardoned by the president.

Whether for specific crimes, or just for being record breaking sentences, here is our list of the top ten prison sentences.

10. Longest Sentence to a Woman

In the country of New Zealand, life imprisonment is the harshest sentence the courts can hand down, and usually, women are treated more leniently than their male counterparts.

However, in the case of Tracy Goodman, the judge decided that her crime warranted the maximum penalty, the first time that sentence had been given to a woman. Not only that, but the sentence carries a 19 year non parole period. Given that Goodman is 44 years old already, that would put her well into her sixties before she even becomes eligible for parole.

Given the nature of her crime however, stabbing and eighty three year old pensioner, Mona Morriss, to death, before robbing her apartment, one can only hope that even then, she does not receive parole.

9. Longest Serving Political Prisoner

Political prisoners are typically those individuals that defy the government of their home country, or another, for political reasons. Nelson Mandela was a famous political prisoner, serving twenty seven years in South Africa, for his involvement in the ANC.

However, in May this year, Nael Barghouthi, a Palestinian national, will become the longest serving political prisoner ever. Beginning his incarceration on April 4, 1978, Barghouthi has now served more than thirty one years in an Israeli prison. Since he was incarcerated when he was twenty one, he has spent ten years more as a prisoner, than as a free man, and since his prison term is undefined, he has no way of knowing when, if ever, he will be released.

While one can understand the need to protect a country’s political stability, one has to wonder, given the exact nature of the political tensions between Palestine and Israel, whether Bargouthi will ever be released, and whether his incarceration is indeed justified.

8. Longest Time Served

In 1899, Richard Honeck, who murdered Walter F Koeller, was sentenced to life in prison. Unlike modern life terms, that tend to last for twenty five years or less, Honeck spent very close to his entire life in prison.

At the time of his arrest, Honeck, the son of a wealthy farm equipment dealer, working as a telegraph operator, was just 22 years old. He and an accomplice, Herman Hundhausen, had entered Koeller’s room armed with knives, guns and other weapons, and eventually stabbed the man to death with a bowie knife.

Initially, he was remanded to Joliet prison, although he picked up trouble there too, stabbing an assistant warden. His stay in the Menard Penitentiary, Chester, lasted until to December 20, 1963, when Honeck, then 84, was finally paroled, and was uneventful.

He spent the final thirty five years of his sentence peacefully, working in the prison bakery, and during his entire stay, he received one four line note, in 1904, and two visits – one from a friend, also in 1904, and one from a reporter, in the same year as his parole. Seems fitting, considering his crime.

However, his niece took him in following his parole, and the two lived in Oregon, until his death, reported to have been in 1976, when he was aged ninety seven.

7. Burmese Activists Receive Inhuman Sentences

In the nation of Burma, the military government reign supreme. Any who oppose them are treated with single minded brutality. For instance, one 21 year old activist, Bo Min Yu Ko, has been sentenced to 104 years in prison for opposing their views.

The government’s indiscriminate sentencing of opposition to their will does not end there though – they have also sentenced a Kay Ti Aung, to twenty years in prison. She was five months pregnant at the time of the sentencing.

While these sentences don’t come close to matching the top sentences in this article, they are significant because they have been handed out not for crimes, but for opposing reigning political views.

6. Longest Sentences In Georgia

In August of 2006, the longest sentences in the state of Georgia’s history were handed down by Judge Debra Turner, of the Gwinnet County Superior Court.

What makes these sentences all the more interesting is that the two recipients, who have each received seven consecutive life sentences, plus two hundred and sixty five years each, had not committed murder or rape.

Instead, the two, twenty eight year old Ryan Brandt, and twenty five year old Jeffrey Kollie, were convicted of a string of armed robberies. Ironically, they had previously fired an attorney who had arranged a plea bargain of forty years for them.

It would seem that even officials within the justice system are getting tired of crime, and given the high number of people either incarcerated, or on parole or probation, have decided to make an example of those who break the law.

5. Twenty Five Life Sentences

On the fifth of February 1973, in the state of California, a sentence of twenty five consecutive life sentences was handed down to Mexican American, Juan Corona.

The sentence definitely fit the crime, as Corona had been found guilty of murdering twenty five migrant farm workers, who had worked for him. After murdering them, he had buried their remains near Feather River, outside Yuba City, also in California.

Considering that he had taken twenty five lives, in an astonishingly short period between 1970 and 1971, it was fitting that he was sentenced to one life term for each of the lives he had stolen. If only he was able to live long enough to serve them all.

4. Over Two Millennia, For Starters!

Darron Bennalford Anderson, of Oklahoma, was found guilty in 1994, of crimes ranging from rape, to kidnapping, larceny, robbery and kidnapping. His initial sentence was two thousand two hundred years.

Unhappy with the sentence, he chose to appeal the ruling, and when his appeal was decided. However, instead of the result he had hoped for, a reduction in his sentence, he received further sentences, including four thousand years each for sodomy and rape, five hundred years for grand larceny, and one thousand seven hundred and fifty years, and a thousand years respectively for kidnapping and burglary.

In 1997, he once again appealed this sentence, and this time, had some success. The supreme court of appeals ruled that the larceny conviction was double jeopardy, considering that he had been sentenced already for burglary.

Currently, Mr. Anderson is eligible for parole in the year twelve thousand, seven hundred and forty four.

3. Don’t Mess With Iranians

Most people know that in the Middle East, justice is swift, and decisive. None but the very brave, or ignorant, would attempt to commit a serious crime, like rape or murder in an Arab governed country, for fear of death.

However, it turns out that eve n being a conman in Iran is a very dangerous proposition, at least, if you value your freedom that is.

On the fifteenth of June 1969, two conmen found this out to their peril. The judge in their case decided to give them sentences equal to the number of their transgressions. Each ended up with sentences of seven thousand, one hundred and nine years.

The moral of the story? When you’re in Iran, make sure your business dealings are completely, one hundred percent above board, or pay the price!

2. Ten Thousand Years

To date, it remains the longest sentence handed down in the United States.

Dudley Wayne Kyzer, who had brutally murdered his wife, mother in law, and a college student, was sentenced, in 1981in Tuscaloosa, in the state of Alabama, to what remains the longest term in US history.

The judge ruled that because of the brutality of the crimes, he would serve ten thousand years for his wife’s murder, plus an additional life sentences for each of his other crimes.

Kyzer later appealed the sentence, and requested to have it commuted, however, the judge who heard the appeal stated that it was outside his jurisdiction, and that Kyzer should have made the appeal within thirty days of sentencing. His ten thousand year sentence therefore stands.

1. Longest Sentence Ever Demanded

It’s not clear if it was ever handed down, but the top spot on this list has to go for the most excessive, longest sentence ever demanded. Particularly considering the crime.

In Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on March 11, 1972, a twenty two year old man named Gabriel March Grandos went to trial. The crime he was accused of was the failure to deliver some forty two thousand or so letters. As a mailman, this amounted, in the eyes of the government, to fraud.

The sentence requested? Three hundred and eighty four thousand, nine hundred and twelve years.

Without a doubt, delivery of the mail is a very important task, however, one has to wonder whether the sentence requested was not, perhaps, just a little excessive, given the crime!

5. Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña (la Cabaña Political Prison)

• Location: Havana, Cuba
• Honor Human Rights: No
• Inmate Population: 75,000

4. Drapchi Prison

• Location: Lhasa City, Tibet
• Honor Human Rights: Unknown
• Inmate Population: 600

3. Tadmor Military Prison

• Location: Palmyra, Syria
• Honor Human Rights: No
• Inmate Population: 4500

2. Gitarama Prison

• Location: Kigali, Rwanda, Africa
• Honor Human Rights: Not Capable
• Inmate Population: 6000

Gitarama has the most overcrowded penetintury in the world housing over 6000 prisoners in a building design for only 500 people. Inmates are so hungary they bite chunks of meat out of each other to survive. The jail is so congested that inmates have no option but to stand all day and all night and many suffer from rotting feet. The floor is moist and filled with raw feces. Gangrene slowly sets on inmates toes, they turn black and fall off later. Inmates that are not so lucky to only have toes fall off, doctors have no choice but to amputate lower limbs to save the persons life. The unbearable stench is so horrible that it can be noticed a half mile away upon arriving to the prison. The survival rate is low due to the violence and the demimishing conditions in the building where one in eight prisoners will die from diesese or violence. Interesting Fact 1: Most of the prisoners are locked up for genocide committed against Rwanda.

1. Kwan-li-so No.22 Haengyong (Camp 22)

• Location: Hoeryong, North Korea
• Honor Human Rights: No
• Population: Unknown

Camp 22 is home of North Koreas Political Prisoners. Men, Women, Children and Infants serve time in this ultimate dungeon. This is the worst of the worst; North Korea is the grand master of imprisonment and oppression. Practically the whole country is a jail where everyone is afraid for their lives and their families well being. Guards are brainwashed to thinking inmates are sub-human and allowed to do anything they please to prisoners, except quickly killing inmates. One man said life at camp 22 is the slowest death you can imagine. Inhumane experiments are conducted on all people including newborn infants. Women are not allowed to scream while giving birth to babies if they do guards will beat the pregnant women until she stops screaming. When the baby is born if it starts crying the guards usually smother it to death or leave the baby face down on the ground to die. If the baby happens to survive it must endure the harsh conditions the mother must endure. One lucky prisoner escaped and lived to tell his story in South Korea. He said, Prisoners in the worst condition where hardly recognizable as human, they looked like beasts he said. 1000 – 2000 Prisoners die every year and a large percentage are kids and infants. Unfortunately they die from hunger, beatings, and executions. This is far from humane it is more like a hidden holocaust that no one can do anything about. Animals receive much better treatment then this; they are being treated equivalent to an insect.

Other Contenders

• ADX, Colorado – This prison is tough, very tough but the prison is located in USA and honor basic human rights.
• La Sante Prison – This prison would be on the list about 10 years ago but it has gotten alot better since then
• Nairobi Prison – Although conditions here are the worst in the world. Inmates are fed survivable meals and not required to work.