Death Penalty For Accused Flashcards
The anger is justified, but not the proposal to grant capital punishment for rape of minors
Each time a horrific sexual crime hits the headlines, there is a clamour for prescribing the death penalty for such offences. Given this, it is perhaps no surprise that the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir has evoked a similar response.
Amid belligerent demands for capital punishment for rapists, last month the President signed an ordinance that introduces the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12. But this clamour for introducing the most stringent punishment has conveniently sidestepped the more cogent criticism of the systemic failures in addressing increasing sexual violence against women and children.
The anger is understandable but legislation ought to be a well-considered exercise and not a response based on a sense of outrage over particular incidents.
Moreover There is little empirical evidence to show that those about to commit a capital offence would stop themselves merely out of the fear of being hanged. Further, there is a legitimate concern that the country’s judicial system has not been consistent in awarding the death penalty.
There is no evidence to suggest that the threat of execution works as a special deterrent. This is reflected in a clear global trend moving towards the abolition of the death penalty. Today, 140 countries in the world have abolished executions in law or practice.
Critique of death penalty stems from:
1. The easiest thing for the government to do was to introduce death penalty.
The government sidestepped the most crucial revisions and deterrents for such crimes which require actual work and has the capacity to bring real change.
The dismal conviction rate for rape in India is a consequence of complicity of state agencies. It is precisely this which contributes to the culpability of rapists and nurtures the growing impunity with which sexual crimes are committed. This is a reality well captured in National Crime Records Bureau data that show high figures of repeat sexual offenders.
Women’s movements across the world have consistently criticised knee-jerk, populist “solutions” to curbing sexual violence that in a highly patriarchal vein overemphasise the sexual aspect of the assault and reinforce the stigma attached to rape. Such “solutions” are seen as undermining the need to address the essential question of the rehabilitation of rape survivors, as well as the question of the complicit role played by state agencies in denying justice to survivors.
We require nothing short of the following:
1. greater allocation of state resources towards the setting up of fast-track courts;
- more one-stop crisis centres;
- proper witness protection;
- more expansive compensation for rape survivors, and an overhaul of existing child protection services. Until these issues are addressed, little will change on the ground.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, regardless of the circumstances or the nature of the crime. It is the ultimate cruel and inhuman punishment, and a violation of a fundamental human right – the right to life.
There is no evidence to suggest that the threat of execution works as a special deterrent. This is reflected in a clear global trend moving towards the abolition of the death penalty. Today, 140 countries in the world have abolished executions in law or practice.
What India needs now is not revenge, but to address the many underlying issues that are perpetuating endemic violence against women.
- Death penalty for raping a child below 12 years of age could increase the threat for the victims as this law enhances the possibility of rapists to murder their victims.
- The woefully low conviction rate for these crimes must also be addressed, which today only perpetuates a culture of impunity.
- Imposing the death penalty for sexual assault cases would likely only worsen this situation, as judges would hesitate to give such an extreme sentence, and the legal process would become even lengthier and more complicated.
- The Indian police force has to be better trained to deal with survivors of sexual violence, and there is a need to develop support systems for survivors.
- Many women are reluctant to report crimes, fearing humiliation and degrading treatment by the police, or the social stigma that comes from society at large. There are also still serious systematic failures in the Indian justice system that raise questions about its efficiency.
The logic of awarding death penalty to rapists is based on the belief that rape is a fate worse than death. Patriarchal notions of ‘honour’ lead us to believe that rape is the worst thing that can happen to a woman. There is a need to strongly challenge this stereotype of the ‘destroyed’ woman who loses her honour and who has no place in society after she’s been sexually assaulted. We believe that rape is tool of patriarchy, an act of violence, and has nothing to do with morality, character or behaviour.
Further, insensitive methods of police investigation, tardy filing of charge sheets, delayed forensic reports, insensitive counselling, uneven disbursement of compensation to rape survivors, aggressive cross-examination of the survivor and her witnesses by defence lawyers, inadequate witness protection,
and cumbersome court proceedings have together disempowered rape complainants
