Should capital punishment be re-implemented?

by Jaliya WIJEYEKOON

Re-introduction of capital punishment or the death sentence is something which is discussed, debated, argued and compromised by various interested parties at present owing to the ever increasing crime rate in the country.

Our country which has a recorded history of over 2500 years had been ruled by a large number of kings, few queens, chieftains and area leaders before we became a colony of the British Empire in 1815. From those olden days some form of administration was practised in the country and the king or the chieftain or the area leader was the final authority in all administrative affairs.

Wrongdoers of the society were summoned before the king, questioned, cross examined, warned or reprimanded and the verdict was meted out then and there based on the seriousness of the degree of the crime committed. No room was left for the suspect to defend himself or challenge the judgement delivered by the authority. It is learnt that very often innocent parties have been victimized by some verdicts given by the kings. At the same time there had been few occasions where the real culprits have escaped punishment deceiving the kings by way of their crafty rhetoric and shrewd demeanour. Even during those primitive days the punishments meted out were different from offence to offence and crime to crime. Although it said so, the verdict always rested in the hands of the king. Death sentence was the punishment for all grave crimes committed by the citizens and no mercy was shown by the kings on anybody and the death sentence was passed instantly.

The modus operandi of meting out the capital punishment was decided by the king such as beheading, stoning to death, trampling by elephants, impaling and burning to death etc. And these punishments were meted out on criminals either at an open esplanade or at a public venue for the countrymen to see, assuming that it will invariably force the people to refrain from indulging in criminal and any sort of nefarious activities.

After we became a colony of the British Empire in 1815 a complete and comprehensive change took place in all aspects and spheres of the country and in lives of the people. British rulers introduced their own civil administrative system in our country. Among the changes they made in our civil society, the introduction of judicial system was of paramount importance.As an integral component of the judicial system, the capital punishment was enacted by the British rulers and the modus operandi was hanging or sending to gallows, replacing the uncouth, brutal and crude methods practised in the country from the days of yore.

After winning the independence in 1948, our political leaders too continued the same system and capital punishment was meted out on criminals duly convicted by the judiciary. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike the 4th Prime Minister of Ceylon who came into power with a convincing majority with his ideology and charisma abolished the capital punishment in 1955 with Buddha Jayanthi celebrations amidst severe objections from his own party stalwarts.

Prime Minister Bandaranaike was assassinated in 1959 and Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike became the Prime Minister and she re-introduced the CP and it had been in practice until the late seventies.

Death sentence was given to a number of criminals annually and there were agreements and disagreements and different speculations over these verdicts. The main allegation against some of these judgements were that innocent parties had been victimised due to various lapses while the real culprits had gone scotfree using undue influence on police and sometimes retaining well versed legal luminaries to defend the criminals.

Anyway it is not fair by anybody to point the finger at the lawyers since their job is to look after the interest of their clients.When we deeply study some of the trial reports and verdicts delivered and subsequent developments and findings, we can not outright reject the fact that there had been incorrect judgements and innocent parties had been victimized in the past through which the whole family has fallen into dire straits and ended up their lives as destitutes on the streets.

We also see some records of criminals who had been convicted more than once or twice but was pardoned and released and then committed even more heinous crimes amounting to multiple murders.

If the capital punishment was meted out at the first instance itself, the unfortunate subsequent crimes would have been avoided.

There is no doubt that we are a well cultured, civilized and affable society and respect the right to life of everyone. But when thoroughly scrutinize, observe and investigate the crimes committed today by certain underworld gangsters, organised goons and sometimes politically motivated merceneries, it is inevitable that the capital punishment be re-introduced forthwith for the greater good of the general public of the country. But it is extremely important that the fair judgements are given after scrutinizing all relevant details, facts and figures, substantial evidence, circumstances in which the crimes are committed and the mentalities of the parties involved are fully observed, investigated, assessed, and analyzed.

It is suggested that the capital punishment should be meted out on criminals with the unanimous agreement of the jury, so that the interested parties will not be compelled to make humble requests to the President to grant undue amnesties on the convicted criminals.

The system of Presidential pardon has been copied from the American system, but the powers of the US President is less extensive than in Sri Lanka. The spirit of the pardon need to be qualified to give it a decent face. One might consider a miscarriage of justice, lack of substantial evidence, a divided decision on the bench of judges as important aspects to consider an amnesty.

It is very common today to see the different types of crimes such as abductions, rapes, murders, tortures are committed by goons and most of them are premeditated, precisely planned, well organised due to long standing animosities hatred, jealousy, money and sexual pleasure. Sometimes we hear of innocent small children being molested and sexually abused by these vagabonds.If the facts are proved beyond reasonable doubt, there should not be any mercy and the capital punishment should be meted out on these criminals soon after the trial is over.

The official announcement of the re-introduction of capital punishment itself will automatically reduce the rapidly increasing crime rate in the country to a great extent. It was quite evident recently that when the news spread to say that the Capital Punishment is to be reimposed, a lot of accused who were lined up in the death row started purging inside the prison cell.

We have heard of notorious criminals who were really tough, stubborn and hard but when they are sentenced to death they become timid and naive like kittens and start to confess and plead for life.

If the capital punishment is in force and the adequate publicity is given on the convicts in the death row, naturally the crime rate in the country will recede.