The death penalty, otherwise known as capital punishment, has long been the subject of intense debate. As a government-sanctioned practice designed to put criminals to death as punishment for their heinous crimes, no other subject has divided more administrations, and with elections around the corner it’s no surprise that the topic has reared its head again.
Based on statistics from last year, fifty-six countries from around the globe have retained the death penalty – and South Africa isn’t one of them. The call for it to be reinstated, however, has been growing stronger, and politicians out on the prowl for votes next month have taken notice.
With our crime rate at an unparalleled, abnormal high, many people have suggested that capital offences such as murder, rape, espionage, treason, crimes against humanity and genocide be dealt with in a more permanent manner. Put the criminals to death, and solve the problem once and for all.
Of course, it’s not that easy, and it’s long been one of the more divisive topics across the country. Even those who have been pro-abortion have been anti-death penalty.
It could be said, though, that the argument around the death penalty itself often distracts us from the real causes behind many of the crimes being committed. Clare Ballard, head of the penal reform programme of Lawyers for Human Rights, echoed the sentiment eloquently enough last week:
''The death penalty is not a quick fix and it does not cure crime. Every time politicians avoid confronting the complex truths about crime and punishment, we lose a vital opportunity to examine what it will take to ensure real safety for everyone''.
With emotions running high, there aren’t too many people inclined to agree. People want swift, harsh justice, and they want violent criminals to be exterminated. In this article, we’ll take a look at what the major political parties say about it and we’ll weigh up the pros and cons of putting criminals to death.
In Favour Of The Death Penalty
In the past, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) have also supported the death penalty. Both, however, have cooled on the subject over the years. EFF spokesperson, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, has stated that only Africans would be punished by the death penalty, and that it is not a sufficient enough deterrent.
Some conservative members of the DA have supported the death penalty in the past, but party leadership has never endorsed it. Likewise, the ANC has never entertained the notion – not even to garner votes.
The South African public, on the other hand, may be more open to the idea. A 2014 opinion poll, for example, confirmed that 76% of millennium generation South Africans support re-introduction of the death penalty.
57 people are killed in South Africa, each and every day. We are inundated with terrifying news in every direction. People are fleeing our shores in droves, seeking safer, more prosperous lives abroad. The media feeds into our fears and insecurity, reminding us of how violent, lawless and savage the world beyond our burglar bars can get.
At face value, the death penalty is the most terrifying sentence any person could be given. It is widely believed that the mere threat of this would be effective in deterring criminals, more so than incarceration. When we take into account that some of the most vile and merciless rapists and murderers in South Africa often receive reduced sentences due to overcrowding in our prisons, it’s easy to understand why people would feel that way.
It’s a well-documented fact that the majority of released inmates will go on to commit further crimes, and an unpopular suggestion has often made that a life in prison may be more comfortable than the lives they lead as free men on the outside.
In this case, we may have created a system in which it benefits criminals to continuously commit crime and live off of the tax payer. This suggestion certainly has its champions. Dr Norman Mabasa is one example, who, in 2012, was the Medical Chief of the South African Medical Association. After one of SA’s senior dermatologists, Dr John Moche, was gunned down six years ago, Mabasa advocated for the return of capital punishment.
''The number of people who die at the hands of criminals is higher than in countries embroiled in civil wars or natural disasters," he said. "Crime has become so bad that soon we are going to have to put burglar bars around our beds''.
Against The Death Penalty
''The most dangerous country in the world.
The rape capital of the world.
Comparable to a war zone''.
We hear these statements day in and day out, from the people we know and all over the news and media. Prison, as a form of deterrence and rehabilitation, is mostly counterproductive and ineffective, so what’s the next solution to the problem?
The response is usually a call for the death penalty, for those guilty of hideous crimes to be hanged by their necks until dead.
But perhaps, according to many people, this simply isn’t the right way forward. President Ramaphosa himself, while recently hosting a Q&A session on Twitter, had this to say:
Our constitution has enshrined the right to life. This means that the state should not be the one to terminate a life. The surge in criminality should be addressed in other ways rather than ending people’s lives.
So, he’s clearly against it, and so are many other people. Because, let’s face it, there are some moral problems with the system.
The first thing to consider is that capital punishment, as stated above, is in direct conflict with the constitution. Next is that there seems to be no credible scientific evidence to support the idea that the death penalty actually deters criminal behaviour. Thirdly, how would we go about trusting an intensely corrupt government to use this power responsibly? The government of old certainly exploited it for their own selfish political gains, and why wouldn’t any other?
Some feel that to reinstate the death penalty would be to brutalize the whole of society. It implicates us all, as the government acts on our behalf, in the same kind of violence we want criminals to be executed for. Maybe it’s time to admit the truth; that we want the death penalty back because it makes us feel better, and not because it necessarily solves any problems. It serves to satisfy our yearning for swift and merciless vengeance, but offers little long-term retributive value.
The nation, however, still needs and waits for an effective justice system. As crime grows by the day, in greater and greater violence, the people are desperate for solutions. The call for the death penalty has begun to symbolize our sense of hopelessness, that everything is lost, and that we need to burn it all down in order to salvage something.
So, what is a lawless country to do?
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