T

here are some issues and laws that are acceptable to all citizens of the nation without much resistance, but few are always a subject of debate among the common masses.

One such law is on capital punishment, which is a punishment of death awarded to those guilty of heinous crimes. The governments assume that the death penalty deters crime, but facts have something else in store.

As many as 35 people from 15 countries are waiting to be executed after being found guilty of drug trafficking in Indonesia. Currently, efforts are being made to save the two Australian drug traffickers who will be executed soon.

In relation to this, Rafendi Djamin, the Indonesian representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), said in Jakarta that Indonesia will find it difficult to bargain or to negotiate with other countries, especially if it is about human rights cases. In the US, 130 people sentenced to death have been found innocent since 1973 and released from death row.

So, one has to think from all angles before adopting such severe punishment. People feel government should focus more on law enforcement.

All the nations of the world should have a reliable system to check the possible channels through which crime may occur because one loophole can damage the entire system. Thousands of people die from food adulteration around the world. Have we forgotten the poisoning of milk powder in China that affected 300,000 babies?

Thousands of people lose their lives because of acid attacks, the reason being that acid is sold without any checks. Leaders too murder innocent people by not providing proper drainage systems and dams.

In relation to this, one author writes in the introduction of a book: '€œIt takes you six hours to read this book; somewhere in the world 2,500 people will have died of starvation or of human related illness by the time you finish.'€ WHO, too, revealed that most of the people in the underdeveloped countries die of disease related to inadequate water and sanitation facilities.

 Why are the people responsible for these deaths not hanged? Are these not severe crimes worthy of capital punishment?

As recently stated by the General Assembly of the United Nations, there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty (UNGA Resolution 65/206).

Statistics from China will prove the statement given by the UN to be correct.

In 2013, China executed more than 1,000 people, whereas Japan and Indonesia executed eight and five respectively. China executed more than rest of the world combined.

Despite the high number of executions, China has nearly 1.55 million prisoners, which ranks it second in the world on this score '€” 22 times more than Japan, which is ranked 19th. The murder rate in China is 27 times more than Japan. So, it will be inappropriate to say that the fear of the death penalty will deter people from committing crimes.

We should think of ways to stop crime, not think of punishments that can stop crime.

Indu Nandal

Purwakarta, West Java