In favour of capital punishment
In our society people want retribution. If offenders aren't punished proportionately, people settle scores themselves.
Mr Saroop Ijaz’s thought-provoking piece on the death penalty, titlted “Stop the machinery of death” (November 18) provides an alternative aspect of a very important penal policy issue. While the arguments make a lot of sense, there are certain very important factors which must be kept in mind before doing away with capital punishment entirely.
There are three elementary questions which each penal jurisdiction requires to be settled and they are: what to punish, how to punish and how much to punish. First, the state declares certain acts as offences carrying a punitive sanction. Then, there are various incarcerating or non-incarcerating punishments and finally, the quantum of punishment is decided based on mitigating factors. Assuming that every murder is punishable by a death sentence is an erroneous presumption as investigators, lawyers and judges ponder each and every aspect before awarding capital punishment. The law also provides for grave and sudden provocation, right of self-defence, etc, awarding lesser punishments keeping all contributing factors in mind.
Without going into any moral or dogmatic assertion on principles of the penal policy, even though morality is inextricably linked with punitive sanctions prevalent in a society, there are four major components of a penal policy: deterrence, incapacitation, retribution and rehabilitation.
Let us now examine the capital punishment in our peculiar environment. Pakistan is a semi-tribal society where the expenditure on law and order is next to nothing. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 13,860 people were murdered in Pakistan in 2011, which is a 30 per cent increase since 2006. This rate is extremely high and police investigation is not of high quality. There is no forensic evidence collection or subsequent prosecution. The police resources and training to combat violent crimes are insufficient. In these circumstances, if the capital punishment is revoked, it will have a catastrophic effect on the criminal justice system. It may well be argued that the absence of better and more scientific investigative techniques is all the more reason for the abolition of capital punishment. The objective reality on ground is that the judges only award death punishment in cases where the evidence is overwhelming. In most cases, life imprisonment is imparted.
One of the main absentees of the criminal justice system is the victim. The presumption that the state will act on behalf of the victim removes the emotional aspect of victimology from the discourse. In a tribal society like ours, people want retribution more than other consideration. In case the offenders are not punished in the proportionate manner, people take law into their own hands to settle scores. Before forming opinions, it is extremely important to conduct a survey of the victims to ascertain how they view the matter.
It may sound a bit callous but the reality remains that we are a country of huge population with meagre resources. While in West, governments can afford to keep inmates locked up for extensive periods of time, we have overcrowded prisons. The living conditions in prisons are also quite dismal. Our population needs education, housing, health care, energy and above all, food security. Keeping murderers in prisons for 20 odd years carries a cost which very few in the country are prepared to pay.
Public opinion in Pakistan should also be gauged before embarking on the journey to abolish capital punishment. The religious mafia has to be dealt with at the very onset. There is little room for reason there. Sadly the liberals of our country are also in the habit of picking Western ideas and start campaigning for their adoption. While there is no harm in adopting fresh ideas and modern concepts, some thought must be given to the ground realities and our own societal framework. While Mr Saroop Ijaz’s article initiates the debate, other dissenting voices must also be heard and given due deliberation in order to find solutions to a very important penal policy issue.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2012.
There are three elementary questions which each penal jurisdiction requires to be settled and they are: what to punish, how to punish and how much to punish. First, the state declares certain acts as offences carrying a punitive sanction. Then, there are various incarcerating or non-incarcerating punishments and finally, the quantum of punishment is decided based on mitigating factors. Assuming that every murder is punishable by a death sentence is an erroneous presumption as investigators, lawyers and judges ponder each and every aspect before awarding capital punishment. The law also provides for grave and sudden provocation, right of self-defence, etc, awarding lesser punishments keeping all contributing factors in mind.
Without going into any moral or dogmatic assertion on principles of the penal policy, even though morality is inextricably linked with punitive sanctions prevalent in a society, there are four major components of a penal policy: deterrence, incapacitation, retribution and rehabilitation.
Let us now examine the capital punishment in our peculiar environment. Pakistan is a semi-tribal society where the expenditure on law and order is next to nothing. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 13,860 people were murdered in Pakistan in 2011, which is a 30 per cent increase since 2006. This rate is extremely high and police investigation is not of high quality. There is no forensic evidence collection or subsequent prosecution. The police resources and training to combat violent crimes are insufficient. In these circumstances, if the capital punishment is revoked, it will have a catastrophic effect on the criminal justice system. It may well be argued that the absence of better and more scientific investigative techniques is all the more reason for the abolition of capital punishment. The objective reality on ground is that the judges only award death punishment in cases where the evidence is overwhelming. In most cases, life imprisonment is imparted.
One of the main absentees of the criminal justice system is the victim. The presumption that the state will act on behalf of the victim removes the emotional aspect of victimology from the discourse. In a tribal society like ours, people want retribution more than other consideration. In case the offenders are not punished in the proportionate manner, people take law into their own hands to settle scores. Before forming opinions, it is extremely important to conduct a survey of the victims to ascertain how they view the matter.
It may sound a bit callous but the reality remains that we are a country of huge population with meagre resources. While in West, governments can afford to keep inmates locked up for extensive periods of time, we have overcrowded prisons. The living conditions in prisons are also quite dismal. Our population needs education, housing, health care, energy and above all, food security. Keeping murderers in prisons for 20 odd years carries a cost which very few in the country are prepared to pay.
Public opinion in Pakistan should also be gauged before embarking on the journey to abolish capital punishment. The religious mafia has to be dealt with at the very onset. There is little room for reason there. Sadly the liberals of our country are also in the habit of picking Western ideas and start campaigning for their adoption. While there is no harm in adopting fresh ideas and modern concepts, some thought must be given to the ground realities and our own societal framework. While Mr Saroop Ijaz’s article initiates the debate, other dissenting voices must also be heard and given due deliberation in order to find solutions to a very important penal policy issue.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2012.