Relevance : GS Paper II (Polity and Governance)
[1800 words reduced to 180 ]
- This year India introduced the death penalty for those who rape minors.
- Arguments for abolition:
- Most of the civilized world has abolished it.
- It does not deter murder more than life imprisonment.
- The death penalty is error-ridden.
- It unfairly targets the poor and marginalized.
- Punishment should not imitate crime; we do not rape rapists.
- Administering the death penalty is traumatic.
- UN resolution calls for a moratorium on the death penalty.
- Arguments against abolition:
- Proportionately punishment is just.
- It has been upheld in liberal democracies.
- India’s neighborhood is not peaceful.
- A punishment cannot be judged by its impact on criminals.
- This punishment is a reflection of societal mores.
- The punishment is not arbitrary as courts exercise caution.
- It is given only in rarest of rare cases.
- In the last 13 years, only four people have been executed.
- Way forward
- Death must only be imposed when no alternative is left.
- Both severity and swiftness of punishment should coexist.
