Death Penalty or Not


The brutal rape and eventual death in Delhi has raised the cry for the death penalty for the perpetrators of the crime. That reminded me of a talk show long back where a member of a women’s organization spoke against the death penalty for rapists. Her reasoning made perfect sense back then. And it makes sense today as well. So it would be good to revisit that angle with a cooler mind.

So what was her reason? She pointed out that once you put death penalty on the table, judges would become even more demanding when it comes to rape cases. That in turn would reduce the conviction rate even further than the pathetic level today. To which I would a few more reasons:
-         There would be an endless appeals process: And if we get another president like Pratibha Patel, the appeal would never get handled one way or the other, and no death penalty would ever get executed.
-         As a country, we also need to look out for the way the “moralistic” Europeans would react to an increase in death penalties. Like it or not, they carry clout. Worse, they would use this as an excuse to harbor even more terrorists and never extradite them.
-         Then there would be the local nutjobs who oppose the death penalty even for Kasab. Now imagine their reaction in cases of rapists where the evidence won’t be anywhere that clear and the murder count nowhere near.
-         Even though it hasn’t happened in this case (yet), sooner or later someone will point out more people from X religion or Y caste are being executed. And we know where that will lead to, don’t we?
-         Lastly, if we make the death penalty the norm in rape cases, shouldn’t we do the same for terrorism cases? And communal riot cases? After all, those acts kill far more people.

I feel politicians don’t care about any of the above reasons, except the last two. Because both of those could affect vote banks. And so, I don’t think death penalty for rapists will become the norm.

But with or without the death penalty, does anyone really expect the police or judicial system to change? And do politicians want the system to change knowing they can’t selectively improve the system only when it comes to rape? The answers to both questions are depressing.

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