Justice Through Death?

Innocent killed, non-deterrent, morality

It should be no consequence that the eye of Horus was used in Ancient Egypt to protect the pharaoh in the afterlife, warding off evil spirits. Yet, the removal of an eye, or known more commonly as “an eye for an eye” or “a tooth for a tooth”, is that not symbolically a representation of the removal of protection, of the removal of stability, of the introduction of evil into our society?

These historic, biblical words have now become a mindset that is being perpetuated in the modern context; We all want justice, we all want revenge, we all want people to get what they deserve, for every action has an equal or opposite reaction, doesn’t it? Put less eloquently, “don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time”. These societal imbalances are ultimately solved through a criminal justice system, although that’s the main issue that is being raised in our time. It isn’t jail time that is being questioned more so than going beyond incarceration to the punishment of death. Yes, Justice through death. It is this punishment that is controversial and truly divisive among people. These are literal splits in our society with a YouGov poll in the UK in 2014 finding that 45% of people were in favour of capital punishment. And why shouldn’t it be divisive? It deals not only with the complexities of justice but with the complexities of life and the true value we hold to the lives of criminals - with one side characterising capital punishment as too harsh, the other characterising them as necessary step for the pursuit of justice.

The necessity for capital punishment can be seen through the need of a punishment equal to the crimes committed. It is used to make sure justice is achieved not only for any direct victims involved, but also for justice to be achieved for the broader community. A death penalty should discourage those who would commit heinous crimes for the risk of their actions has increased.

Yet, capital punishment cannot be characterised as any more than a vestigial structure of our criminal justice system. You can think of it as a tailbone or the appendix, it’s there, if something happens to it, the rest of the body aches but it still persists to exist generation after generation serving almost absolutely no purpose.

In our pursuit of our sense of self-justice, we have taken steps back in time to an age that is characterised by primitivism, barbarity and savagery. This is more so emphasised by the over presence of capital punishment in such shows as Game of Thrones which not only is set in a fantasy world but is set in a time period that is so far back in history that it even has its own name – the dark ages.

I do not wish to alarm you, but these are truly dark ages. Not so much because of the use of the capital punishment, more so who capital punishment is being used against.

In the United States alone, since 1973, 140 people have been released from death row due to wrongful conviction. Yes, innocent people whom were almost put to death but were lucky enough to get out in time. This is an irreversible punishment with any innocent person being executed not able to gain clemency or reprieve, nor be freed for they have already passed on. This is on top of the fact that the National Academy of Science in America has found that 4% of Death row inmates are innocent. Yes, albeit it may seem like a small number, 4% isn’t a large percentage I won’t doubt that, but can we really condemn innocents to death?

Albert Camus, a philosopher and a Nobel Prize for Literature winner has said that “No cause justifies the deaths of innocent people”.

This cannot be reflected more in the almost-execution of human trafficking victim Mary Jane Veloso. Her case was not heavily covered by the media with the executions of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan taking the spotlight in the media. The two men who were caught, as part of a larger group known as the Bali 9, in Indonesia were sentenced to death for the smuggling of several kilograms of illicit substances. There was complete outrage and sadness, as well as a belief that it was necessary in the punishment of their crimes over their deaths, they were drug smugglers after all; the world divided once again over the necessity for capital punishment. What this case overshadowed though was the near execution of Mary Jane Veloso. This was a woman who was a victim of Human Trafficking and a non-comprehensive review of her circumstances. She was vulnerable, being not able to speak English with herself and her family being threatened by the drug syndicate which duped her into smuggling the drugs. She was unemployed and forced to work as a maid. She was almost executed after being duped to carry drugs she did not know about. Fortunately, she was saved at the 11^th hour, with a reprieve by the Indonesian President due to her recruiter coming forward. But, she was lucky, there are very few successful cases like hers.

Innocent people goes beyond the realm of accidence to the realm of control.

If the death penalty were to be used, let’s say, on only guilty people, it is not a deterrent at all. A 2014 report by Amnesty International stated that “there is no evidence that the death penalty has a greater deterrent effect on crime than terms of imprisonment. Where government present the death penalty as a solution to crime or insecurity they are not only misleading the public but – in many cases – failing to take steps to realise the goal of abolition”. And there isn’t a deterrent factor caused by the death penalty. Even if we extend this idea to the case of the “War on Drugs” in Indonesia, we haven’t seen a decrease in drug trafficking because of the punishment of death; we have only seen an increase. Does this not disprove any argument that the death penalty deters criminals? Unless somehow, the definition of deterrence is changed, the death penalty remains not only being used to execute innocents but also ineffective in its purpose.

We need only heed the peaceful words of Mahatma Ghandi, “an eye for an eye makes the world go blind” and yes, we have been blinded by anger, by our haste in our desire for self-justice, by our ignorance of the facts and figures in front of us all, for justice through death. 

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