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 a...