Recently, Supreme Court of India dismissed plea by CBI asking to overturn life term awarded to Dara Singh, who lead a mob that eventually burnt alive Christian missionary Dr.Graham Staines, to death sentence. The crime was condemned by various quarters of the society and without any doubt heinous in nature. The people involved in that tragic incident, with Dr.Graham Staines(aged 58) were, his two sons Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6) while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa, India on Jan 22, 1999.
What followed was a long debate across all the social networking sites and Television whether the decision to overturn the penalty was correct or not. We all agree that the crime was condemnable and heinous in nature. I really don’t want to jump into that debate of why the decision was overturned.
The reason for me writing this post is whether death penalty should be given at the first place. It has been long a matter of debate in today’s society whether death penalty serves as a justified and valid form of punishment. As soon as the term death penalty or capital punishment comes up people from both the sides start yelling their arguments.
I am in favor of death penalty given the crime committed is proved in the court of law. I would also like to make it very clear that we are looking at death penalty given the person gets a fair trial with his rights protected within the framework of the constitution of the country.
There are two most important conditions which the court in the just world looks for; the first being the crime committed by a person must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. And second being it should be rarest of the rare case.
Now let us evaluate the argument given by people that how you would justify that a crime committed is grave in nature and it is rarest of rare to get a capital punishment. As we all know that different countries have different laws and in some countries capital punishment can be given for insulting religion (Blasphemy law for e.g. in Pakistan). Some countries consider petty crimes like stealing, grave in nature. I would like to ask them some questions and would assume here that they are not under influence of anything before answering my questions and also, that they are reasonably educated with an eye on world affairs:-
Do you consider these countries are unbiased towards both the sexes i.e. Men have same rights as women? Do you think that an individual’s human right is preserved in such countries? Do you think that they have freedom of speech? Are there any laws which make an outsider(neutral person) think that he/she is not in 21st century ?If you call Sharia a law and Taliban a government then this post is not for you!
Most of these countries which give capital punishment and other atrocious punishments (like beheading, amputation etc.) for petty crimes are either lawless or their courts are a joke. They always find the lowest spot in Human rights index like Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya etc. I am in no mood to discuss law and order situation of such countries which are fighting for their survival and often termed as failed state by the world media and organizations. I assume that you read newspaper and it is known to all of you.
Now if you look at the developed countries (like USA, EU etc.) and at the Democratic developing countries (like India etc.) you will see that their law doesn’t allow you to give capital punishment for petty crimes. The capital punishment in these countries mostly given the case in justifies being the rarest of rare and grave in nature.
What would you define a grave crime in a civil society where everyone have equal rights irrespective of cast, creed or religion? A cold blooded murder qualifies for grave crime. Now you can argue several people get murdered every year in every country, should we hang all the culprits? That’s where rarest of the rare comes in. You really need to appreciate the beauty of the law here. The crime has to be so brutal, the circumstances should be so unique and effect on society should be so bad, to be qualified for a rarest of rare case and hence death penalty. Also notice how I used “cold blooded murder” above, usually a crime of passion doesn’t qualify for capital punishment. The crime that is committed in extraordinary circumstances in the impulsive moment and in no manner is the crime pre-meditated or thought thoroughly, that individual is said to have committed a crime of passion.
Now Is death penalty a deterrent to the crime? Yes, it is definitely a deterrent to the crime. People are afraid of death more than any other moral punishment. Imprisonment constitutes one evil, the loss of freedom, but the death penalty imposes a more severe loss, that of life itself (Pojman & Reiman, 1998, p. 61). They claim that death cuts criminals from all ties that lead to future possibility which ultimately takes away all hope for the criminal involved. If you think that it is not the case ask yourself why so many mercy petitions are being filed after getting capital punishment. It is the fear of death which sends a chill down the spine. Stats. says the same:-
In 1995, George E. Pataki became the New York Governor and reinstated the death penalty which had not existed in that state for many years. This decision resulted in a 22% decrease in assaults and a one-third decrease in murders throughout the state. In 1980 in Texas, the murder rate without the existence of the death penalty was 18 per 100,000 people. Nearly 20 years later, the death penalty was reinstated and the murder rate dropped to 9 per 100,000 people. In 1980 in Houston, Texas in particular, there were 701 murders which decreased to 241 murders in 1998 (Johansen, 1998). Although it appears that supporters have substantial evidence toward their claim, abolitionists argue that those decreasing rates are due to other factors such as an increase in crime-control measures in both states within those years (Notis, 1997)
To fight and deter the crime the law enforcers should give them every possible tool, including the death penalty. If you do not have death penalty in the law books the criminals will have no fear and unacceptable level of violence will permeate on the streets.
No case illustrates this point more clearly than that of Arthur Shawcross. In 1973, Shawcross, one of New York's most ruthless serial killers, was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of two children in upstate New York. Since the death penalty had been declared unconstitutional, Shawcross was sentenced to prison. After serving just 15 years-an absurd prison term given the crime-he was paroled in 1988. In a horrific 21-month killing spree, Shawcross took 11 more lives. That is 11 innocent people who would be alive today had justice (read Capital punishment) been served 24 years ago; 11 families that would have been spared the pain and agony of losing a loved one. Preventing a crime from being committed ultimately is more important than punishing criminals after they have shattered innocent lives.
Death penalty serves as a basic reminder to the public that crime does not get rewarded. It sends a message to the public that if you kill innocent people, than the price that you will be forced to pay will undoubtedly be quite high (Bedau & Cassell, 2004).
Other than the deterrent effect you also need to consider implications of giving life imprisonment on the society. Imagine a scenario when a person commits a rape/murder at age 20.Even if he gets the maximum sentence he will be out at 35 years of age. Age mellows down people and their hostility, but only after you are too old or let’s say 50.If the person is out on the streets at 35, he lost his 15 years, but he is still young. He will go for revenge otherwise he will commit another crime. Who will take the responsibility for that?
Also, If you want to stash so many dangerous criminals in jails, who will bear the cost? We the Taxpayers! Now why should an innocent citizen of this country pay for a criminal/murderer/rapist to keep him alive? There is no moral obligation, which I can think of, which will justify such insanity!
I believe in giving second chances but there are some cases/incidents for which no one should be given second chance i.e. rarest of the rare.
References:-
Pojman, L. P. & Reiman, J. (1998). The death penalty: for and against. Honolulu: Rowman and Littlefield.
Notis, C. (1997). Is the death penalty an effective deterrent?
1 comment:
The abolitionists are right. If crime rate is coming down in some American states, it's because of effective crime controlling and investigation leading to high conviction rates. The Arthur Shawcross case you have shown is an aberration. I know of a few cases like this. For them, life behind bars is the best punishment because it will rob them of their pleasure that get by killing people senselessly. Psychopaths are like that. They get their high by killing. It's like a narcotic addiction. Putting to death such a criminal would be relieving him of his craving for murder.
For the sake of the argument that capital punishment brings down heinous crimes, how would you explain very low rates of such crimes in the EU, Australasia etc.
You rightly pointed out that human development and literacy in the countries are non-existent that practices barbaric punishments like amputations and stonings. Contrast this with EU countries that score the highest in HDI, though the US also scores (fairly high). Out of the top 20 countries ranked by HDI, only US (#4) and Japan (#11) has provisions of death sentences in their statutes.
Needless to say, the US is the most violent country among them all. It's miles ahead of the rest in violent crimes, even from Japan that hangs an average of 1-2 people a year.
Since there are no independent Human Rights Index, the HDI index is a pretty good indicator.
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