adey posted:
2) It does not work as a deterrent to murder, in fact it can make people more violent in avoiding capture, as they have nothing to lose. More Police are killed in States that have the Death Penalty - they are seen as part of 'state sanctioned murder' and fair game by criminals. It does not cut the murder rate of a country - it is counter productive
In reply:
Worse Than War
The UCA Report on Murder in South Africa reveals that according to the official statistics, in the 44 years from 1950 to 1993, there was an average of 7036 murders per year. This covered the turbulent strife of the apartheid years of warfare, conflict, terrorism, riots and repression.
However, in the first eight years (of peace) of the new democratic dispensation, under the ANC, an average of 24 206 murders were committed each year. However, if the Interpol statistics are accepted, then the murder rate in South Africa during the ANC years has averaged 47 882 per year.
When The Death Penalty Deterrent Is Removed
The report notes that the sharp exponential increase of violent crime, particularly murder, in South Africa, also coincides with the suspension of the death penalty in 1989 and its abolition in 1996.
South African convicts have a 94% recidivism rate (that is, 94% of all persons released after serving a sentence immediately become involved in crime again).
These are just some of the statistic. The death penalty is a complex sociological issue that cannot be debated as a single human rights issue. There are multiple factors that must be considered.
My question to anyone in favour of abolishment is this:
If your 10 year old daughter was raped and tortured for 6 hours by 8 men and then brutally murdered, would you seek the death penalty?
If your 75 year old father was beaten to death with a hammer, would you seek the death penalty?
If your 40 year old sister was burned with boiling water and an clothes iron till she died, would you seek the death penalty?
Sure, no justice system is fool proof. Mistakes will be made. If I was on the receiving end of a faulty death penalty I would be fighting as hard as anyone to have it abolished.
Unfortunately, statistics prove that abolishing the death sentence does NOT lower crime.
adey posted:
2) It does not work as a deterrent to murder, in fact it can make people more violent in avoiding capture, as they have nothing to lose. More Police are killed in States that have the Death Penalty - they are seen as part of 'state sanctioned murder' and fair game by criminals. It does not cut the murder rate of a country - it is counter productive
In reply:
Worse Than War
The UCA Report on Murder in South Africa reveals that according to the official statistics, in the 44 years from 1950 to 1993, there was an average of 7036 murders per year. This covered the turbulent strife of the apartheid years of warfare, conflict, terrorism, riots and repression.
However, in the first eight years (of peace) of the new democratic dispensation, under the ANC, an average of 24 206 murders were committed each year. However, if the Interpol statistics are accepted, then the murder rate in South Africa during the ANC years has averaged 47 882 per year.
When The Death Penalty Deterrent Is Removed
The report notes that the sharp exponential increase of violent crime, particularly murder, in South Africa, also coincides with the suspension of the death penalty in 1989 and its abolition in 1996.
South African convicts have a 94% recidivism rate (that is, 94% of all persons released after serving a sentence immediately become involved in crime again).
These are just some of the statistic. The death penalty is a complex sociological issue that cannot be debated as a single human rights issue. There are multiple factors that must be considered.
My question to anyone in favour of abolishment is this:
If your 10 year old daughter was raped and tortured for 6 hours by 8 men and then brutally murdered, would you seek the death penalty?
If your 75 year old father was beaten to death with a hammer, would you seek the death penalty?
If your 40 year old sister was burned with boiling water and an clothes iron till she died, would you seek the death penalty?
Sure, no justice system is fool proof. Mistakes will be made. If I was on the receiving end of a faulty death penalty I would be fighting as hard as anyone to have it abolished.
Unfortunately, statistics prove that abolishing the death sentence does NOT lower crime.