Well, I come into this debate with a
slightly different perspective. I am against capital punishment because it
reeks of vengeance or revenge, which is unworthy of civilized society. Capital
punishment does not have a place in a civilized society. Firstly, because the
delegate thinks, while punishing a murder or a terrorist, the state is reduced
to that level of the terrorist. Executing a person because he was involved in a
crime is just an I-for-I philosophy. Secondly, we all try to make the criminal
justice system as accurate as possible and make sure that the person who is
convicted is guilty. Sometimes, the criminal justice system gets it wrong and
if we have capital punishment we can never put that right. According to
Amnesty International, more than 160 prisoners sent to death row in the USA
have later been exonerated or released from death row on grounds of innocence. Mostly,
we see that the shreds of evidence are tainted and discredited. This tells us
why capital punishment is not a perfect way to punish people. And for those who
think that capital punishment serves as deterrence for the society, I ask them
is deterrence about killing innocent people? Because we have worldwide examples
of how innocent people were lawfully hanged particularly in the countries where
absolute monarchy and dictatorship or totalitarianism is still in practice.
Innocent peoples can go to death and there’s no comeback. When you take life
when a life has been taken, you don’t call that justice. Taking somebody’s
freedom and executing them from society is revenge, not justice.
When we take a look of the reports from South-Asian nations like
India, we see that the number of cases related to abhorrent crimes like Rape is
going up. Now, this is happening in a country which is one of 55 nations in the
world who retains capital punishment. This means that the death penalty does
not deter the crimes. On the other hand, the countries where capital punishment
has been suspended, crime rates are relatively loess. In countries like North
Korea, Taiwan and Thailand people are shot. In the US, lethal injection, gas
inhalation & electrocution are used. And in many Middle East and the Arab
Nations, the person is beheaded. These acts are themselves a crime against
humanity and therefore, capital punishment of all forms must be
abolished. Capital Punishment only creates terror in the minds of people.
Moreover, it has been used to suppress minorities. Capital punishment is widely
being used as a political tool for example, Iran and Sudan use the death
penalty to punish political opponents. In China, people are sentenced to death
if they speak against the so called democratic govt. Capital punishment
violates the right to life and is prohibited under the Second Optional Protocol
to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence,
not a solution to it.”
Death penalty does not act as an effective deterrent more than other severe punishments, in particular the main reason to why people are deterred from committing very serious crime is the risk and the chance that they will be caught, that they will be facing justice. So, enhancing the security, the certainty that people will face justice is the best way to stop crimes. The whole philosophy of abolition of criminal justice is based on the assumption that the people that deserve punishment have a chance to better themselves and that is possible with long imprisonment terms but it’s not possible with death penalty. I am for the death penalty for the terrorist who hurts the sovereignty and integrity of my country. A terrorist, who does not have a caste, creed or religion and is mercilessly killing people must be given death penalty.
Questions for authorities:-
( China ) :-
China executes more people than all other countries combined. Every
year more than 1000 people are executed in China and these executions are
carried out by lethal injection or gun shot. Is it to create some sort of terror in the minds of people
because people are generally not able to protest against the govt.?
( Germany ) When Hitler were in power,
millions of innocent gypsies were killed in gas chambers and the current
condition of Gypsies is also a matter of serious concern. What is the delegate’s stance on this point?
Does Germany accept its fault?
( Belarus ) All European countries
except Belarus have abolished the death penalty in line with
the European Convention on Human Rights. Why is death penalty still
legal in Belarus?
( Italy ) During
fascism in Italy, when Benitto Mussollini was in power, by constitution
ammendments and enactment of Rocco code, capital punishment was used to
suppress innocent people and 100s of people were sentenced to death. What is
the delegate’s stance on the same and will Italy ever except its fault?
(Saudi Arabia ):- Saudi Arabia
punishes people by beheading the person with sword. Don’t you think, this
itself is a crime against humanity?
( Latvia ) What was
the main reason behind Republic of Latvia punishing people by shooting them at
night when Mr. Guntis Ulmanis was in power?
( Iran ) The use of the
death penalty for crimes committed by people younger than 18 is prohibited
under international human rights law, yet Iran still sentence death and execute
juvenile defendants. What is your stance on this point? (for boys as young as 15 and girls as
young as 9.)
As per Amnesty International,
capital punishment is used as a political tool in Iran?
( India ) As per section 3(clause 2)
of SC/ST act, there is a mandatory death sentence if an innocent member of
a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe is convicted and is
executed on the basis of false and fabricated evidence given by a
non-SC/ST person. Do you think that such laws which protect only 30%
people should continue in this era of equality? Don’t you agree with the point
that lower caste people are more vulnerable to capital punishment?
( Canada ) In an interview given to
Canadian Media, former PM of Canada, Stephen Harpher affirmed his support to
capital punishment by saying, “Capital Punishment is appropriate.”
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