Criminology and Psychology

Vietnam has sentenced five men to death for smuggling heroin into the country from Cambodia, state media reported on Saturday. The men, aged between 30 and 40, were condemned by a Ho Chi Minh City court after they were found guilty of trafficking a total of seven kilograms of the drug between 2001 and 2010, Communist Party daily Nhan Dan said. Three other men were sentenced to life, while a further six people received jail terms of between seven and 20 years, after a three-day trial which ended on Friday. Communist Vietnam's drug laws are among the world's harshest. Anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600 grams of heroin, or more than 20 kilograms of opium, faces the death penalty. Executions were carried out by firing squad until July this year, when the country announced it would instead use lethal injection. At least 69 people were sentenced to death in Vietnam in 2011, including 27 for drug smuggling, according to an AFP tally compiled from figures in state media. T...