CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Capital Punishment or the death penalty is a legal processs whereby a person is put to death by
the state as a punishment for a crime.The term capital originates from the Latin capitals literally
means regarding the head.
The system of death penalty originated as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C., in the Code
of King Hammaurabi of Babylon which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes .The
death penalty was also part of the Fourteenth Century B.C. s Hittite Code; in the Seventh
Century B.C.s Draconian Code of Athens, which made death the only punishment for all crimes.
Death sentences were carried out by such means as crucifixation,drowning,beating to
death,burning alive & impalement.In the Tenth Century A.D.,hanging became the usual method
of execution in Britain.
Now-a-days capital punishment is reserved for murder,espionage,treason or as a part of
military justice.In China human trafficking & serious cases of corruption are punished by the
death penalty.
In India capital punishment is given on the basis of Rarest of the Rare cases. What is the
Rarest of the Rare? According to Supreme Court the rarest cases are those in which the
collective conscience of the community is so shocked that it will expect the holders of the
judicial power to inflict death penalty. The court said where cases in which a murder is
committed in an extremely brutal,grotesque,diabolical,revolting,or dastardly manner so as to
arouse intense & extreme indignation of the community.In India,the number of people
executed since independence in 1947 is a matter of dispute,official government statistics claim
that only 52 people had been executed.However the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties cited
information from Appendix 34 of the 1967 Law Commision of India report showing 1422
executions took place in Indian states from 1953 to 1963,and has suggested that the total
number of executions since independence may be as high as 3000 to 4000.In December
2007,India voted against United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium
in death penalty.In November 2012,India again upheld its stance on capital punishment by
voting against United Nations General Assembly draft resolution seeking to ban death
penalty.In India as per Article-21 of the Constitution of India no person can be deprived of his
life except according to procedure established by law.Although India is one of a number of
countries around the world which still practises capital punishment,it is rarely used.A 1983
ruloing by the countrys Supreme Court stated that the death penalty should be imposed only
in the rarest of the rare cases
Capital Punishment has been used in almost every part of the world,but in the last few decades
many countries have abolished it.Among the countries in which highest rate of capital
punishment is carried out,China tops the list. Capital Punishment in China has widespread
support ,especially for violent crimes,no group in government or civil society vocally advocates
for its abolition.The rate of executions in China is higher than Pakistan and U.S.A. Capital
Punishment in China is usually administered to offenders of serious and violent crimes such as
aggravated murder,drug trafficking etc. In 2009 Amnesty International counted 1718
executions as having taken place during 2008,but Amnesty International believed that the total
figure is likely to be higher.The region with the second highest number of executions is the
Middle East and North Africa.Top 10 countries which still practice the capital punishment are
China,Iran,North Korea,Yemen,U.S.A.,sAUDI Arabia,Libya,Bangladesh,Somalia.According to
Amnesty International,140 countries have abolished the death penalty.In 2012,only one
country Latvia has abolished death penalty for all crimes.The countries who have abolished
death penalty for all crimes,to name a few are
Albania,Andorra,Angola,Armenia,Australia,Bhutan,Bosnia-
Herzegovinia,Canada,Cambodia,Denmark,Portugal,Italy,Turkey,Tukmenistan etc.Countries
which have abolished death penalty for ordinary crimes are Bolivia,Brazil,Chile,El
Salvador,Fiji,Israel,Kazakhstan,Peru.
On October 21,2009,the World Coalition launched its ratification of United Nationa Prtocol on
the abolition of death penalty by all state parties to the International Convention On Civil and
Political Rights(ICCPR).The international covenant was adopted in 1989 by General Assembly
and it is a second optional protocol to ICCPR.The protocol seeks to ensure that executions
become definitely illegal and explicitly asserts the principle that death penalty is violation of
human rigts and especially right to life.At the end of 2007 the United Nations General Assembly
adopted resolution establishing a moratorium on execution with the goal of abolishing death
penalty.Some of the worlds most respected leaders have also called for an end to the death
penalty including Pope John Paul,Nelson Mandela and UNHRC.According to Amnesty
Internationals opinion everyday, all over the world, prisoners men, women and even children
face execution. The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading.They opposed its use,
everywhere in the world, for whatever reason it is never acceptable, ever.
Whatever form it takes electrocution, hanging, beheading, stoning or lethal injection the death
penalty is highly condemned.There are many arguments that oppose the heated issue of capital
punishment. The first argument that can be made that opposes the death penalty is that there is a
possibility for error. There have been many cases around the U.S. and the world where an inmate
was falsely accused of murder, rape, and other serious crimes. A justice system that would kill an
innocent man or woman is a brutal system DNA evidence can convict someone but it can also
free that person penalty is a violent punishment that has no place in todays criminal justice system. An
additional argument against the death penalty is its cost. Financially it just doesnt make sense to
give an inmate the lethal injection. The cost of capital punishment varies from state to state, but
as a whole, it costs more than not having the death penalty. A religious stance can also be taken
against the death penalty. Capital punishment is similar to playing God because executing a
person kills them before the time of their natural death. Some Christians believe that God places
people on Earth for a purpose. Hinduism opposes violence, revenge, and killing. Hindus believe
in the principle of ahimsa, which is non-violence. Even though they go against violence and
killing India currently has the death penalty in place. Their death penalty is used for very rare
cases and not used like it is here in the United States. The death penalty in India is so rare in fact
that there are roughly 100 people on death row and the number that are actually executed is very
low.
Like Hinduism, Buddhists believe in nonviolence and compassion for life. They also believe in
Samsara, which is the idea of re-birth and the cycle of birth. Because of this, if capital
punishment is put into place then it would affect future incarnations of the punisher and the
offender.
Views on the death penalty in Christianity run a spectrum of opinions, from complete
condemnation of the punishment, seeing it as a form of revenge and as contrary to Christ's
message of forgiveness, to enthusiastic support based primarily on Old Testament law.

Among the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew, the
message to his followers that one should "Turn the other cheek" and his example in the story
Pericope Adulterae, in which Jesus intervenes in the stoning of an adulteress, are generally
accepted as his condemnation of physical retaliation (though most scholars[134][135] agree that
the latter passage was "certainly not part of the original text of St John's Gospel"[136]) More
militant Christians consider Romans 13:34 to support the death penalty. Many Christians have
believed that Jesus' doctrine of peace speaks only to personal ethics and is distinct from civil
government's duty to punish crime.

Historically, women have not been subject to the death penalty at the same rate as men. From the
first woman executed in the U.S., Jane Champion (hanged in James City, Virginia in 1632) to the
present, the executions of women have only constituted of about 3% of U.S. executions. In fact,
only ten women have been executed in the post-Gregg era

An eye for an eye makes the world blind said by Mahatma Gandhi.Today we feel so true his
words were,capital punishment cannot make a convict feel what he has done.It will not give him
a chance to realize his mistake and to become a good human being. Capital punishment is not a
proper answer to crime.By giving death penalty we are committing the same crime which the
criminals have done,taking life of somebody be it a innocent person or a criminal we are not
doing justice.Death cannot bring back anything nor it can provide any solace.Scientific studies
have also proved that death penalty failed to deter people from committing crime.So for what
reason should we involve in this crime.Rather if we give him a second chance he may become a
good person and help others to be not involved in criminal activities.
Debalina biswas
Reference-
Amnesty international
www.deathpenalty.org
www.nacdp.org
The Hindu