Mumbai Attacks - My Stand

After the horrendous Mumbai attack, I was intigrued by one question. "What can we do to stop terrorists" ? Do we ourselves have to create terror in their mind? But then, what would be the difference between them and us ? And I do not think that if a person is not afraid to be a suicide bomber, what can fear him/her ? I personally feel that any terrorist caught and convicted should be executed. It might sound inhuman to some people but, I think that if we just keep them in prision, another flight may be hijacked and then again, they would have to be released.Capital punishment ensures those guilty will not re-enter society. However this can also be achieved through life-sentences. It serves as a deterrent. Knowing you might get executed if you get caught for committing a crime might stop you from doing it, theoretically.The only con is the possibility of an innocent man being wrongly sentenced to death.

You don't have to sympathize with criminals or want them to avoid a terrible punishment to ask if the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and to think about the risks of executing innocent people. Your question is much too important to settle on the basis of sound bites or without answers to these.

death penalty doesn't prevent others from committing murder. No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in countries that have it than in those that don’t.

We can argue about it, but in the end, it's one or the other, and I'll put my money on policing. We've got criminals, transgressing the rules of law and the respect of human life and rights, who must be brought to bay (as they used to say). And if they transgress international law, what courts should try them. What world and civilization are we trying to build?

Right to Life & Capital Punishment in India
In India, capital punishment is granted for different crimes, counting murder, initiating a child’s suicide, instigating war against the government, acts of terrorism, or a second evidence for drug trafficking. Death penalty is officially permitted though it is to be used in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases as per the judgement of Supreme Court of India. Amongst the retentionist countries around the world, India has the lowest execution rate with just 55 people executed since independence in 1947.

Since the condition of the ‘rarest of rare’ is not exactly defined, sometimes even less horrific murders have been awarded capital punishment owing to poor justification by lawyers. Since 1992, there are about 40 mercy petitions pending before the president.

Pros & Cons of Capital Punishment

A number of arguments are forwarded by supporters of and those against capital punishment.

Pros:

• Deterrence: Proponents of capital punishment believe that fear of death deters people from committing crimes.
  




• Prevents Recurrence of Violence: Supporters of capital punishment argue that use of the death penalty could actually reduce the number of violent murders by eliminating some of the repeat offenders




• More Humane than Life Imprisonment: It is argued that making the person suffer by rotting in jail for the rest of his life is more inhumane than execution.




• More Economical than Life Imprisonment: Life imprisonment costs a lot to the tax payers. Apart from the housing and feeding of prisoners, a lot money and time is wasted on numerous appeals by the prisoners

Cons

• Violation of Human Rights: The strongest argument against capital punishment is that it violates human rights. Those in favor of abolition of capital punishment believe that it is immoral to take human life.




• Chance for Reform: Abolitionists argue that the criminals should be given a chance to reform. He/she should be required to compensate the victim's family with his/her own income from employment or community service. By doing so the criminal pays back to the society as also to the victim and/or to the victim’s family.




• Doesn’t Deter Crime: Abolitionists cite statistics to prove that there is no correlation between the threat of death penalty and the occurrence of violent crime.




• Miscarriage of Justice: Death penalty is irrevocable and there is every chance of an innocent getting death penalty.

Do you other readers and commenters realize the seriousness of our country's position? Will you bring and encourage the will to make things better? Our hope is only in ourselves, my friends. If we can only argue among ourselves, I fear we have little chance indeed. But if we have courage to admit mistakes, we can yet bring about the kind of transformation of spirit and direction for which our nation is most admired. Now is the moment for this change. This is the monumental task before us; let us not disappoint the faith of our forebears. As a people, people who know right, fairness, and justice we can let that knowledge guide us. Or we can continue to follow fools?