Young professionals debate on death penalty

Violent crimes are perceived to be on the rise in Mauritius and once more, the reintroduction of the death penalty is at the forefront. Capital punishment is in itself a quite debatable practice. Today, only 36 countries actively practice capital punishment, 103 countries have completely abolished it de jure for all crimes, six have abolished it for ordinary crimes (while maintaining it for special circumstances such as war crimes), and 50 have abolished it de facto (have not used it for at least ten years and/or are under moratorium). Should death penalty be reintroduced and would it curb criminal behaviour? Young professionals debate...

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"16206","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-27324 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"200","height":"201","alt":"young-pro-bavinee"}}]]Bhavinee Luxmi Ramdhun: “It is not a real solution”

Bhavinee is in the law sector and she is very concerned when it comes to the issue of death penalty. “There is still a question mark whether death penalty is really the solution to deliver justice to the victims’ family, to ensure the safety of the public and to reduce crime rates. The law of retaliation: an eye for an eye, will not serve as a deterrent, but would rather leave no difference between us and the murderers. Violence will never be the right solution for murders, rapes and drug smuggling which plague our society. We will be leaving an imprint on the minds of the youth that the proper approach to violence is to retaliate.” According to her, every human being has the inherent right to life. “This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of life. Moreover, the legal system, despite best efforts, is arbitrary and is known to have the flaws. Need of the hour is to get to the root cause or ponder what if somewhere, the system itself has failed to provide the upcoming generation the required moral values that they need for a brighter future.” Capital punishment is not a real solution. “The ultimate solution remains education! From a very tender age, children should be taught to respect not only elders, but those of the same age group as well. Discipline, love, honesty, self-control and tolerance should be a matter of discussion at school and academic success should not be the ultimate goal of education; growing up into a well-moulded individual is,” she says.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"16210","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-27328 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"202","height":"240","alt":""}}]]Zaynab Meajaun: “Only in extreme cases”

Zaynab currently works at CIM Finance and argues that capital punishment should definitely be introduced. “Capital punishment should be considered in extreme cases like rapes, murders, just to name a few, bearing in mind that there are highly reliable witnesses and proofs to support the case. This should be done with strict professionalism so that there is no foul play.” However, death penalty is not the proper solution to minor cases which can be resolved differently.

 

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[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"16205","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-27323 alignright","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"201","height":"186","alt":"young-pro-ashvin"}}]]Ashwin Gurbah: “A punishment should be formative”

31-year old, Ashwin Gurbah is in the education sector. Death penalty is a very delicate topic and there are many different views on how to punish people who committed awful crimes. “Some individuals back their opinions using human rights, political or religious views. I will look at it from a different perspective, byciting some very famous intellectuals whose arguments are still very important. I am a teacher and very often, students misbehave in class. When I punish them, I make sure that the punishment educates them, makes them understand their mistakes while teaching them a lesson. If a person has killed and we killed him/her, are we not committing the same crime? We call them monsters but then we do exactly the same thing to them?” He explains that on a different level, if criminals are killed, they will not be able to feel the pain. “We will take away their lives, but they will never get the chance to suffer for the atrocious things they have done and reflect on those. Putting them in jail for the rest of their lives will be much better. Our punishment will be morally superior to their acts.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"16204","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-27322 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"200","height":"194","alt":"young-pro-ashveen"}}]]Ashveen Kutowaroo: “It would deter crimes”

34-year old Ashveen is a Chartered Secretary and a part-time law lecturer at the Open University of Mauritius. Concerning the debate over death penalty, he says that it contradicts God’s plan for man and society and does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters revenge. “As an avid reader and follower on the topic of euthanasia, mercy killing and capital punishment, I came across this document presented to the International Commission against the Death Penalty, based in Madrid by Pope Francis in the early 2015. It states that today, death penalty is inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime committed. Hinduism, on the other hand, doesn’t talk about capital punishment, as it is against any form of killing in line with the Principle of Ahimsa (non-violence).” He further adds: “Homicide cases in Mauritius worries me sometimes. Keeping all the theories on medical ethics and religion on the side, death penalty would deter people from committing heinous crimes. Educating people from a young age will probably make good for it in for the generations to come.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"16207","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-27325 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"201","height":"217","alt":"young-pro-hajra"}}]]Hazrah Rujbally: “It should be introduced”

Hazrah believes that the crime rate has been increasing steadily over the past few years. “In order to curb this worrying trend, capital punishment should be introduced. Currently, the highest sentence being imposed on someone is life imprisonment. They might be locked up but they are well catered for. Besides, there is no credible evidence that death penalty deters crimes more than imprisonment. We are talking about human life and innocent people can be sentenced to death due to simple errors. To put to death a killer would perpetuate the cycle of violence. However, capital punishment could not be justified in any society. Death is a severe punishment. Bryan Stevenson has rightly said that death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit. The real question is: Do we deserve to kill?”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"16209","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-27327 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"200","height":"354","alt":"young-pro-raksha"}}]]Raksha Ramautar: “I am against”

Raksha works as Facilities Officer for Logidis Ltd. She believes that from a mother teaching her child not to steal, to the police maintaining law and order, our society has always used punishment to discourage improper behaviour. “Since we have the highest interest in preventing awful crimes, it is rational to use the most drastic measure to prevent them, and that is the death penalty. If murderers know that they will be sentenced to death, we can reasonably believe that they will think twice before killing for fear of losing their lives.” According to her, death penalty is in fact rarely used and it takes years before an execution is actually carried out. Swift punishments are the best deterrents. “It is very difficult to actually prove the correlation between death penalty and low criminality. Hence, it might just be a matter of personal opinion and political agendas. I am against the re-introduction of capital punishment. We do have a problem of drug trafficking and passionate crimes that are sensationalised by the media.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"16208","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-27326 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"200","height":"266","alt":"young-pro-kovina"}}]]Kovina Rungadoo: “I am in favour”

Kovina Rungadoo is in the real estate business. “Capital punishment is a debatable subject. It came to the forefront in 2010, when the then-Prime Minister announced that he was thinking about reintroducing the death penalty in an attempt to reduce drug trafficking. Around 21 countries impose this form of punishment as a deterrent to commit horrendous crimes. I am in favour of the death penalty, mainly because the crime rate has been on the upswing for a while. Cold blooded murders, sometimes even involving children, will never cease to make most of us shudder.” Death penalty, she says, will help to reduce the issues we have today since our society sincerely needs a careful and thorough diagnosis. “Strict legislations should be implemented to ensure that justice is not only being done but it is also seen to be done. It will help to reduce repeat offenders and will help to maintain stability in our ‘diseased’ society. People will feel much safer. If applied, capital punishment has to be dealt with very scrupulously after intense investigation so that innocent lives are not at stake. On a concluding note, death penalty is a controversial issue which will be debated year in and year out until policy makers make up their mind.”