Capital Punishment - Should we do away with it?

[drkrack]

Though it doesn't support my line of thinking and suffers a lot from a Selection Bias , It is worth listening to.

 

[cellar_door]

So you agree that Usman Khan aliyas Md Yakub should be considered for death penalty? I'm not expecting others to stop terrorism after hanging him but stopping him from committing further crimes.
Abolishing death penalty is thereotically exciting but practically death penalty is more logical & economical.

We badly need judicial system reforms, just Swift hearing and proper judgement acts as a strong deterrent for many people. Our current social & political scenario isn't appropriate for abolishing death penalty.

I do agree with you partially, as in I agree that some people should be considered for the Death penalty. Mostly I agree about the means but not the results. What I am saying is that death penalty should accomplish something that normal incarceration cannot. Putting someone in jail till they grow old and die will stop them from committing terrorist activity as well as hanging them will. If you are putting someone to death then it has to be for something more than just "setting an example" for other criminals/terrorists because that does NOT work. Not everyone fears death, infact some welcome it and would much rather be a martyr than a prisoner.

If the court believes that someone proven guilty of a heinous crime is beyond rehabilitation or someone being a long term prisoner is a liability to the security and wellbeing of its citizens then yes, death penalty is the logical conclusion of that thought. And it should be enforced.

I do however absolutely agree with the last point. A trustworthy and swift judicial system is the best deterrent for crime. And our current one isnt doing so well.
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What is the basis of that article. It looks like it is simply general public opinion and opinion of some criminologists which was also formed based on data collected from the public. There is no indication of data from actual criminals and wannabe criminals. (which is hard to capture) So, there is no hard data there to prove that death penalties doesn't deter crimes. There is only data to indicate that a lot of people and a number of criminologists out of their sample size think that death penalty doesn't deter crime.

Ok here is hard data then.

Thats pretty cut and dry isnt it? No opinions. Just crime rates in places that have the death penalty and places that dont. Surprise surprise. Places with death penalty have the same or more crime.

So your next argument will be -

Even otherwise, that article does not seem to have any relevance for our country. The background of the country is important and does matte. British law which we inherited for instance is based on the fact the premise that most people can reformed with a bit of correctional punishments and it does not really work for a country like India.

Why not?

How do you decide whether death penalty is a deterrent or not. Here is how we can go about it?

1. Are there at least 10 people (may be even 1) in the country who would refrain from committing a heinous crime because of fear of the punishment they would get when they get caught?
2. Does having this punishment have any other negative impact on crime rate?
3. How does it fare compared to another measure. For instance if you take two people who like to commit crimes for the heck of it and tell the first one that he is definitely going to be executed if he commits a crime and the tell a second one that he will be made to sit though a one month rehabilitation program with all costs borne by the govt and would be allowed to go free after that. Who is more likely to commit a crime?

If even 10 crimes are prevented because of having death penalty in our system, then it has already fulfilled its purpose as a deterrent.

Again you are extrapolating from what you feel to what others must feel about something. Making up random numbers doesnt make this a scientific approach. Its still just your opinion. Nothing wrong with that but you cant pass that off as evidence that death penalty is a deterrent.

And as to the last point, thats really a slippery slope. Why not have death penalty for every crime then?

 

[asingh]

I think it is fine in the rarest of rare cases. But the hounding media and kangaroo public courts should be kept out of the decision making process. As a society after ample deliberation it is safe to decide that a certain individual is not good to live anymore, and is better off not on this planet. People like the Nirbaya rapists are an example. Or Tiger the terrorist. It is not about setting an example, but uprooting the malign elements (extreme) from society and purging them to never land.

 

[sabby]

My take on Death Penalty is not to view it as punishment or deterrent rather than to protect a lot of other innocent lives in lieu of one psycho/maniac criminal.
I do agree that it should be very very rare.

 

[toocool6600]

All the people thinking that punishments are only to use as a deterrent have one track minds.

Guess what there are loads of aspects of anything / everything. .....its not only to make an example of either.

Some people just don't deserve to live. ..........period.

If a terrorist gunning down people in realtime. ................what would a cop or military man do?

He(cop ) would throw his gun away and get down on his knees and beg for people's lives? .............yes?

Incase the terrorist if caught or surrendered would not be killed immidiately and will be tried in court and then executed. .........If he is in still kill mode, he would be gunned down ASAP. (Or we can send capital punishment haters to the terrorists. .........and let guys handle them. .........good idea )

As simple as that. ..................justice delivered in different ways that's all.

What the **** the hulla is all about?


Same thing for masterminds. ...........why the **** he should be spared and kept in jail?

 

[toocool6600]

God forbid if something happens to the post writers family people , supporting these criminals not getting hanged. ...............It would be a different emotion then and there.

Unless and until you are a party to the crime , victim side. .........your views don't matter at all, though you may speak whatever you want. ......It doesn't matter.

What matters is what the victims and family affected feels about it.

I am amazed .........what were the reactions to the government's banning beef in online community. .............freedom of choice and what not. .....huh.

While killing animals the human animal wants full choice. .........hypocrisy at its best