The death penalty is the punishment where ‘justice’ is served with the notion of ‘an eye for an eye’. This has been a very controversial debate over the years and has seen some countries remove the punishment from their justice system. Other countries, however, have decided to hold on to this punishment which is arguably less effective compared to prisons. Generally, the number of countries still exercising this kind of ‘justice’ have reduced significantly in recent years. Among the reasons why this form of punishment has been rejected by many is the human rights issue. Although there are contradicting judgements on this case, the right to life seems to be the obvious human right being violated. This article will discuss the things that countries can do in order to abolish the death penalty.
The fact that prisons have proven to be more effective than the death penalty could be the reason why many countries have decided to abolish the brutal punishment. Political leadership has been an important aspect in the process of doing so. France, Mongolia, Senegal and the USA can attest to that since the governors in Maryland and New Mexico, fore instance, were at the forefront as they worked towards abolition of the death penalty. It therefore goes without saying that if the process of abolishing the capital punishment is to succeed, then there must be some form of leadership (Novak, 2016). The voices of good leaders can change the mind of the general public. In some of the countries where leadership proved to be the determining factor, the public might have been for the retention of the penalty but people were later convinced otherwise. Presidents have also been involved in some way. They have used their exclusive rights to grant clemency and enforced a delay on executions in Mexico, Mongolia and the Philippines. This paved way for constitutional repeal of the death penalty.
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The leadership does not necessarily have to be the political, there are other capable leaders who can make things happen. The religious leaders and other civil rights societies can also chip in and provide informative reports regarding the rights of the people. Let the people understand their rights and hopefully many will be convinced that the death penalty is not the right answer to crime.
Another way in which countries can abolish death penalty is by amending the constitution to accommodate those grievances. Cambodia, Turkey and Haiti are some of the countries which used constitutional amendment in order to achieve what they were after.They then amended their penal code and other laws. The amendments were focusing largely on the right to life. Amending the constitution might seem quite hectic but it is one of the best legal ways that can be so helpful in the abolition process. Constitutional amendment guarantees secure abolition. This is because, once the new ideas have been enshrined in the constitution, the abolition process will be backed by law.
The courts could also take the front seat in this crucial issue. In some countries, abolition was as a result of the court ruling. For instance, in South Africa the Constitutional Court ruled that the punishment was generally against the human rights. The countries working towards removing the capital punishment from their justice system could make use of the judicial arm of the government. The court ruling can be used as a legal backing in the entire process. In as much as some may argue that the fight against the death penalty cannot be won in the courtrooms, South Africa succeeded using that route. The domestic courts showed their importance on this issue in Kenya, India and USA. Legal means are always the best options since they give the complainant a legal ground if the ruling is in his/her favor.
Anyone can take the initiative to work towards abolishing the death penalty. All it takes is to educate the other citizens and spread the message across. Some people are always willing to add a little more value to the society and these are the types of people needed by those countries struggling with the death penalty law. This topic is very controversial and whenever anyone speaks about it, they ought to be careful (Hood &Hoyke, 2015). Therefore, those willing to educate the rest of the people are supposed to be very careful. Providing education to the general public gives them a chance to understand exactly what a death penalty entails and why it is not a very good form of punishment.This will help the citizens make the right choice whenever they are called upon to make a choice. This is because not everyone is intelligent enough to realize the darker side of the death penalty.
NGOs or individuals can create a website or any kind of media where citizens can air their views on the issue of death penalty. It can some form of movement where everyone gives out his or her view without any fear and they also access more education on the same issue. An example of such strategy is one that has led to the abolition of the capital punishment in a number of states in the USA.The fact that the media is a place where almost everyone can access today, messages spread via this platform can reach many people within a very short time. Domestic NGOs together with the international NGOs have given out detailed information concerning the lack of preventive effect of the capital punishment and its discriminatory use. This contributed to abolition in some countries like South Africa and the state of New Mexico.
This type of movements can also be spearheaded by the civic societies. This provides an avenue for the common citizens to pass their messages to their leaders. All it takes for a leader to act is a little push from the tax payer. Some countries have had to go through that before the leaders could begin the required process.
Death penalty can be a very controversial topic but one that needs to be addressed in those countries that are still using this form of punishment. Apart from the human rights violation, it is a type of punishment that can’t be taken off. If the purported criminal is letter cleared of his or her charges and found that he was not guilty, there will be nothing else that can be done since he or she will be dead already.
Studies show that prisons have proven to be more effective than the death penalty. Prisons provide the person with an opportunity to learn new things and a chance to change their character. Death penalty on the other hand gives the subject no chance of living to see another day. In USA, the federal government still insists on the death penalty but individual states are working in the opposite direction. Back in 2015, four states abolished the capital punishment, the last time this number did so within a single year is decades ago. This shows that many countries are moving away from that kind of punishment.
References
Hood, R., & Hoyle, C. (2015). The death penalty: A worldwide perspective . OUP Oxford.
Knowles, J. B. (2015). The Abolition of the Death Penalty in the United Kingdom: How it Happened and Why it Still Matters . Death Penalty Project.
Berman, R. (2015). How Nebraska abolished the death penalty. The Atlantic , 27 .
Novak, A. (2016). The Global Decline of the Mandatory Death Penalty: Constitutional Jurisprudence and Legislative Reform in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean . Routledge.
