Abolish death penalty, there is nothing to gain from it in modern society

[Courtesy]

The world has been coming to terms with the fact that the death penalty has very little use in modern society.

More and more, countries have been abolishing the death penalty as a punishment for any crime; many others have stopped carrying out the executions altogether; while others have only retained it for the most serious crimes, such as mass murder and terrorism.

By 1977, only 16 countries had abolished the death penalty. By 2020, the number has risen to 106. Eight countries are abolitionist for ordinary crimes only whilst 28 countries, including Kenya, are abolitionist in practice. In our case, we have not carried out a single execution since 1987 when former Kenya Air Force officer Hezekiah Ochuka was hanged for his involvement in the 1982 attempted coup. 

In aggregate, 142 countries out of 193 have either abolished the death penalty or done away with it in practice. Many point to the right to life and freedom from torture; cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as the basis for opposing the death penalty.

The Supreme Court of Kenya abolished the mandatory death penalty for murder in December 2017, citing its inconsistency with the Constitution.

This means that it is the discretion of the trial judge to decide whether or not to sentence to death or to give a lighter sentence including life imprisonment. In our penal code, those accused of murder, robbery, attempted robbery would mandatorily be sentenced to death, denying the trial judge the chance to consider circumstances such as whether the person was an accessory, a first offender or coercion.

Credible evidence

Since then, many convicts have successfully approached the courts to review their sentences. Others have been released for serving what the courts considered sufficient time. 

Those supporting the death penalty insist it is appropriate for the following reasons: First, it deters serious crimes such as murder and robbery. In truth, there is no credible evidence to show that the death penalty deters crime more than other punishments.

Countries like the USA still register high crime rates as opposed to much lower rates in countries that are abolitionist such as Canada. Often, murders are committed in moments when emotion overcomes reason or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Some people who commit violent crime are highly unstable or mentally ill.

Second, others argue that justice can only be served by taking a life for a life and a murderer has no right to claim the right to life. In reality, the death penalty cannot compensate those families who have lost their relatives because of crime. As much as they have a right to see the person responsible for that crime held to account, the death penalty cannot genuinely relieve their suffering.

To put it in perspective, we do not sanction the burning of an arsonist’s home, the rape of the rapist or the torture of the torturer because we understand that we must be built on a different set of values from those we condemn.

The death penalty lowers society to the moral standard of the offender. Moreover, evidence has shown that a good percentage of convictions are often a result of systemic discrimination of minorities and the marginalised who are more likely to be convicted for crimes that they did not commit. If a mistake is made by the justice system, there is no way back. No system can always decide fairly and infallibly who should live or die. The risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated.

 

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death penalty