CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
(Abolition of Death Sentence)
It is well known that punishment, by and enormous depends upon the degree of culpability of criminal act and also the danger posed by it to society as also the depravity of the offender. A dispassionate analysis of criminological Jurisprudence would reveal that capital punishment is justified only in extreme cases within which a high degree of culpability is involved causing grave danger to society. It must, however, be added that a mere objective consideration of action's dangerousness to socieiy by itself wouldn't be enough to assess perpetrator's culpability but his personal attributes and circumstances and gravity of the offence have also to be taken into consideration to come to a decision whether or not he's qualified for the award of capital sentence. Thus the punishment should be commensurate, among other things, with the gravity of offender's act and society's reaction thereto.
Experience has shown that despite fullest consciousness about the desirability of reformative justice, every now and then unequivocal stand is unavoidable in exteme cases where offender has been fully attentive to the fatal consequences of his gruesome and brutal crime and there have been no mitigating circumstances. In such aggravating situations, though unwantonly, law must take a firm stand and not hesitate even to award the acute sentence of death to the offender. These situations have found expression within the legal code of India as also of other countries.
Death sentence has been used as an efficient weapon on retributive justice for hundreds of years. it's justified on the bottom that it's justified to forfeit the lifetime of someone who takes away another's life. someone who kills another must be eliminated from the society and so fully merits his execution.
Arguments for and against the retention of execution are often supported with equal emphasis on either side. The retentionists support death penalty on the bottom that it's a good deterrent value and commands obedience for law generally public. The abolitionist, on the opposite hand, argue that enornmous increase in homicide, rate reflects upon the futility ot death sentence. Another argument usually put forth by people who support abolition of executing is that the habitual or hardened criminals commit most cold-blooded murders during a masterly manner. They proceed with their criminal activity in such a fashion that whether or not they're caught, they're certain to escape punishment on the bottom of 1 or the opposite procedural flaw within the existing legal code.
Statistics on homicide in various countries suggest that the incidence of this crime has not fallen despite increased risk of execution. This in other words implies that the deterrent effect of executing is vanishing in present . Not only this but some studies on execution have even concluded that the abolition of executing has sometimes been followed by a rise in murder.
(a) The retention of execution seems desirable in cases of hardened murderers who are incorrigible and commit deliberate murders during a calculated manner.
(b) Particularly in agricultural countries like India the important problem of corporal punishment arises just in case of murders arising out of agrarian riots and disputes referring to land. In such cases the offenders are cognizant of the results of their act but they fall a prey to criminality thanks to hatred, excitement or anger for the victim whom they require to place out of their way for ever. Thus these persons, though awake to the results, of course don't intend those consequences to follow. they can not therefore be categorised as professional killers and capital punishment can hardly serve any useful purpose in their cases.
(c) Experience has shown that quite sizable amount of murders and homicides that occur during this country are because of prominence of racial, ethnical, and religio-political cultures. The offender very often falls a prey to his surroundings and in an exceedingly fit of passion commits homicide stupidly about its gravity and consequences.
Such cases are more common within the Indian society where sex taboos are too strict and therefore the marital relationships are likely to be disturbed on slightest suspicion or provocation.
(d) Most of the homicides are because of vengeful emotion. Irresistible temper or manic excitement and death penalty serves no deterrent purpose in such cases.
The question of abolition of death sentence was considered at length during a seminar on execution in India which was largely attended by number of eminent jurists, lawyers and legislators The consensus was in fa- vour of retention of corporal punishment seeable of the deteriorating law and order situation within the country. those that advocated abolition of executing, however, suggested that it'll be a fitting tribute to the memory of late Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi if capital punishment is abolished in India on the occasion of Gandhi Centenary celebrations in that year. But the retentionists argued that the reason for explicit violence no matter ideals involved are visited with implicit violence of execution. the final opinion, however, favoured the retention of death penalty and stressed on its application in such a manner that its harshness is mitigated but efficiency retained.