Capital Punishment as a deterrent?

 'Does capital punishment really act as a deterrent?'

• It can be put this way: Do we as a State have a right to take someone's life?It can be agreed that the death sentence is passed in cases where the crimes committed are most horrendous and heinous. Everyone in society is very worked up about the rape and killing of the 14-year-old girl.
  Rape of any woman is as dastardly as this particular case. Rape coupled with murder makes it more heinous. But are we really setting an example by taking the life of an individual or by hanging the culprit? Has experience shown that the death sentence acts as a deterrent?
• Normally, hanging is the punishment for serial killers, psychopaths or in case of terrorist violence in which a large number of people have died. In cases pertaining to individuals, death sentences are rare. In case of a serial killer, the man has lost his balance of mind. A normal person would kill another person except out of reasons of animosity, jealousy etc. But if there is no reason, then that person needs treatment.
  In case of terrorists, experience has shown that the death sentence has not yielded the desired results. They are not deterred because they kill for a cause.

• And what if an innocent person is hanged? Every innocent life lost would produce ten more terrorists.
  By executing someone you are not solving the problem because it continues to exist even after the convict has been hanged to death. You are only doing away with the person who committed the crime. You are not making his life miserable because he is dead and gone. You are making the lives of those left behind miserable. You are, in fact, punishing those who have done nothing wrong while the convict is relieved of his agony.
• The need is to change the thinking of the person concerned and the punishment should be life imprisonment without remission.
  Also, the convict should be made to work and earn for himself instead of being fed at the expense of the State. Some part of what he earns should be given to his family outside the jail.

• Another important factor that should be kept in mind is the quality of our investigations.
  We know how our police functions. We know how innocent persons are caught and convicted while the rich and famous get away with murder. We have worse cases where people in power have raped women and murdered them. Why have we not hanged them?
  Instead, they are given high positions.
  Under the circumstances, the death sentence should not be given to anyone.

 'Capital punishment acts as a deterrent'

• The death sentence acts as a deterrent. It is normally awarded in the rarest of rare cases by trial courts and is subsequently confirmed by the high court and the Supreme Court. You cannot brush aside the death sentence on the premises that the State cannot take life. The State sometimes has to take action considering the sentiments of the society at large and the nature of the crime to instil a sense of confidence amongst the people.
• Consider cases where the severity of the crime evokes a public outcry. A death sentence helps bring about a balance between the crime and the sentiments of the people.
• Death sentence for those crimes that are horrendous, particularly terrorism-related ones where people are killed with the aim of spreading terror can also be supported.
• One knows that the death sentence does not deter terrorists since they are out to get killed anyway but there is no harm in hanging them for the benefit of society. Sometime back, terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir blew up a bus that was carrying jawans and families of paramilitary personnel. If you do not hand down death sentence in such cases then in which ones would you do so?

By: Jasmeet Singh