By Helena Selby (Helena_selby@yahoo.com)
It is true some religion in the name of the god they serve or even in the name of the almighty God’s always pronounce death penalty in some of their judgments of the breach of laws they consider a felony. Aside from religion every society in the world according to records in one way or the other have practiced capital punishment before. Up to date some states as well have in their constitution death penalty as a form of judgments. The question is, are the guilty really guilty that they deserve to die? How will the authorities turn back the hand of time when they realize the guilty are not really guilty? Does this punishment really serve as a deterrent for other people not to commit the same felony/crime? No one with intent commit a crime knowing definitely that his or her judgment will be capital punishment. Apart from one not being in his or her right senses any right thinking member of the society surely will either commit a felony either in a moment of passion or anger. Surely it is the opinion of some member of the society that corporal punishment or custodial sentences are indeed too lenient a punishment for people who commit such monstrous acts. In Ghana capital punishment is one of the imposed laws but rarely implemented.
What is capital punishment/ death penalty
Death penalty owing to how drastic it is, is being campaign by a lot of Human right organization as to how countries can abolish it totally from their rule of law. So far, among the 138 existing nations in the world 92 have abolished the law and practice of it and 10 have abolished it in some of their laws. According to Wikipedia website capital punishment, the death penalty or execution is the killing of a person by judicial process for retribution and incapacitation. Retribution is the practice of "getting even" with a wrongdoer — the suffering of the wrongdoer is seen as good in itself, even if it has no other benefits. Incapacitation is a justification of punishment that refers to when the offender’s ability to commit further offenses is removed. It is usually undertaken by either injection of lethal chemical, firing squad, electrocution, hanging, stoning or sometimes put in a chamber.
In 2008 the worldwide execution rate was 2,390, with China responsible for executing approximately 1,740, Iran 342, Saudi Arabia 102, Pakistan 36, the United States 37, and Japan 15. in a programme organized by Amnesty International, it was discovered that death penalty does not only applies to murder however depending on the country other offences considered a felony is given capital punishment as it judgment. For instance in Iran crimes such as apostasy from Islam and homosexuality are capital offenses. The former Chinese Director of state Food and Drugs administration Zheng Xiaoyu was put to death by that state being charged with corruption and Pakistan executes those it find guilty of blasphemy.
Society and capital punishment/ death penalty
In Ghana capital punishment though found in the constitution is not being used, her last execution of the law was in 1992. According people’s the government do not use it due to the existence of democracy, that is, they are scared their frequent use of that law might force the people to vote against them in any upcoming election. According to some of them it being there in the constitution will put a sort of scare in the people so want dare to commit any crime. The question is the present government might not use it what if a new government decides to use it that is go to the lather in the implementation of all the laws.
According to the Executive Director of the Legal Resources Center Mr. Tuinese Edward Amuzu the irreversible nature of death penalty should alone be enough to convince any policy of the excessive and unjust nature of the death penalty. Even the best of human criminal justice procedures, in countries that truly seek to execute only the worst violent criminal s make mistakes and wrongfully convict at least a small number of those it tries. Moreover the execution of prisoners is not an effective or useful law enforcement tool, even in the cases where it is meant to be legitimate punishment for serious violent crimes. It does not prevent or reduce crime. He noted that countries that use the death penalty even in good faith run a serious risk executing the innocent and there are many capital cases around the world that are not tried in good faith.
For one Mr. Augustine Sampah, a retired prisons officer, capital punishment is violation of human right especially for the poor and vulnerable who do not have enough resource to prove their innocence. The real purpose of conviction and judgment is reform the guilty one into a better person in the society, what will then be the essence of judgment when the supposed guilty person does not exist to experience the reformation. Even though in the issue of murder death penalty is considered to be a consolation for the bereaved family, it does not mean it will bring the murdered person to life. One must also bear in mind that, since we are just humans, mistakes are inevitable; murder in certain instance could be manslaughter.
As for Mr. David Kumah a carpenter, he seem to support the idea of death penalty but demanded that thorough investigation be done and also the judges and the jury to also empathize with the accused especially when one is just a victim of circumstance. In-depth investigation is needed so as make sure not to make a wrongful sentence. He went to an extent of giving an instance of what happen last year 2008 about a man, who purposefully killed a cousin in and farm, cooked and ate him like a cannibal. According to him this person in aspect needs to be pardon since he was caught in the act and had no regret.
Alternative of death penalty/capital punishment
Come to think of it capital punishment can in way bring a form of insecurity in the society. One might think that eliminating the guilty one will bring to the society and the family but to some extent the vice versa. When a person is given a death penalty, whether guilty of not, the possibility of a loved one or a close family relation avenging is there. The loved one could avenge by killing the judge of the case, the jury, the witnesses and even wipe out the whole family of the victim.
At certain point in time when the offence committed is suspected to be conceived due to mental problems, the person is better off referred to the rehabilitation center, for rehabilitation. According to the Medical Law of Rehabilitation, the purpose of rehabilitation is to restore an injured person to a productive and independent lifestyle, as soon as possible through the use of medical, functional and vocational therapies. Rehabilitation includes assisting the patient to compensate for deficits that cannot be reversed medically.
State who still hold on to the law of capital punishment can amend their laws life imprisonment without the possibility of bail to criminal so as to give them the opportunity to mend their ways for the better.
Conclusion
Research by Amnesty International has shown that death penalty is often applied in a discriminatory manner. It is used to disproportionately against the poor, minorities and members of racial ethnic and religious communities; it is often imposed after a grossly unfair trial. Even during fair trials the risk of executing the innocent can never be fully eliminated. The death penalty has not been proven to have any deterrent effect and it denies the possibility of rehabilitation. The death penalty violates the right of life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Therefore for Mr. Edward Amuzu government must respect their obligation as human duty-bearers and implement the United Nation’s general assembly’s death penalty Moratorium which calls for an immediate stop to the use of this barbaric method of punishment in all circumstance. One might not put it into consideration that the more people are executed the lesser the labour force in the world becomes, if that be the case then how do we expect the future economy of the world to look like.
No comments:
Post a Comment