Capital punishment also known as death penalty, is essentially the execution of an individual as punishment for offence by a state. The crimes which can lead to capital punishment are called capital crimes or capital offences by a state . The crimes which can lead to capital punishment are called capital crimes or capital offences. Earlier, the killing of criminals and political opponents was prevelent in almost every civilization.
The supreme court of India ruled in 1983 that the death penalty should be imposed only in "the rarest of rare cases", capital crimes are murder , gang robbery with murder, abetting the science of a child or insane person, waging war against the nation, and abetting mutiny by a member of the armed forces. In recent years the death penalty has been imposed under new anti-terrorism legislation for people convicted of terrorist activities .
Mohammed Afsal (Afsal Guru) was convicted of conspiracy in connection with the 2001 Indian parliament attack and was sentenced to death. The supreme court of india upheld the sentence , ruling that the attack" shocked the conscience of the society at large ". Afsal was scheduled to be executed on october 20, 2006 but the sentenced was stayed.
According to Amnesty International a human rights NGO, death sentence is retained by the legal system of only 58 countries at present while nearly two thirds of the countries of the world have either abolished it or have not used it for at least 10 years . Most of the countries , which have abolished the death sentence , are in the western world, while over 60% of the worlds population lives in countries where death sentence is still legal .
The majority of states in Latin America have absolutely abolished capital punishment however, a few countries like Brazil use death penality only in special situation ,for example treachery committed during war time . There are still a quite a few states and countries that retain the use of capital punishment , including the US ( The federal government and 36 of its states ) Japan, and Africa.
Pro's and con's of capital punishment
Deterrance
Prevents recurrence of violence
More humane than life imprisonment
More economical than life imprisonment
Con's
Violation of human rights
Chance for reform
Doesn't deter crime
Miscarriage of justice
