To Kill or Not to Kill – Who has the right to Capital Punishment?

Easter is a time of resurrection. Life triumphs over death on the religious and mythological scene. In the garden the yearly miracle, when nature shoots out dainty stems through the patches of snow or ice is a renewal of hope. 

While pondering on the sanctity of life, I was wondering how common is the death penalty nowadays.

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60% of our planet’s population lives in countries, which use the death penalty or capital punishment as a deterrent to crime. Of these countries, four are the most populous in the world China, India, USA and Indonesia.

Can Institutions in the EU Kill People?

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In the EU, Chapter 1, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits using capital punishments. But there is a footnote (actually a footnote hidden inside another footnote), which forbids death penalty 

"except in the case of war, riots and upheaval". 

Individual nation states are allowed to interpret what constitutes riots and upheavals, isn't that so!

Though EU member states cannot kill people legally, there are however institutions which do kill people. One of the largest European-American institutions, NATO, does not kill people and cannot do that in EU territory but in war areas (like Afghanistan or Iraq and earlier in Serbia or Bosnia) NATO gets away with lots of killing. If it’s the wrong target or the media reports later on that it’s a wedding party they killed then “Oops! We’re sorry!” and everything’s just fine. NATO needs to label undesirable people (living in far off, non EU places like Afghanistan) as terrorists or enemy combatants to justify air strikes or other military actions that kill people.

There are many ‘institutions’ in EU, which have taken upon themselves the right to kill people when they want to. Some examples are the: 

• Camorra of Campania, 
• Albanian Mafia and the 
• Calabrian 'Ndrangheta (Please note: Cited in alphabetic order. No disrespect intended to anyone of these).

In all likelihood, these organisations use different codes and terminology that those in TV shows like the Sopranos. If asked, members of these organisations would probably claim that they use “lethal force” against specific targets if it had approval from high on.

The Sicilian Cosa Nostra even has Ten Commandments. The fourth and the tenth commandments are 

• “Don’t go to pubs and clubs!” and 
• “People who can't be part of Cosa Nostra: …. anyone who behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.”

In the town of Corleone, Italy there is a Mafia museum. This is very different from the Mob Museum or Mafia Museum in Las Vegas, USA.

Budapest, Hungary also has a mafia museum. 

Do Spooks or Spy Agencies Have a Licence to Kill?

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In the movies and books, James Bond 007 or the “ Real 007” are supposed to have the “licence to kill”, but their employers or governments do not and would never acknowledge this. Governments of countries are also not allowed to legally kill people unless it takes place within the confines of its judicial system, and only if capital punishment is allowed in its constitution. Over the years, persistent claims that certain espionage agencies get rid off unwanted people by killing them refuse to die. Often these cannot be verified, because of the nature of the business, so rumours persist.

The CIA is a common target of such rumours and speculations. Sir Richard Dearlove, the former British MI6 chief has openly confirmed before a British jury that MI6 was authorised to use “lethal force” against specific targets if it had ministerial approval.

The KGB or the FSB nowadays, can’t avoid such reputation with rumours of a certain “ Department Eight” which, is reportedly involved in 

“planning assasinations and sabotage in support of war or crisis activities.”

Death Penalty Global Situation

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According to Amnesty International: Out of 192 United Nations members, 

• 92 countries have abolished capital punishment. 
• 10 have retained it for special circumstances only. 
• Fifty-nine countries have kept the death penalty and out of these 36 have not used it for over ten years.

The gold medal for maximum executions goes to China with 470 executions in 2007. Based on anecdotal evidence, the USA and HongKong based Dui Hua foundation estimates the real total in China to be 5000. Iran gets the silver medal with 317 and Saudi Arabia gets the bronze with 143.

If we calculate in executions per million people in the country: 

1. Saudi Arabia is the world leader with 5.18. 
2. Iran is the runner up with 4.5 and 
3. Iraq in third place with 1.13. China falls much behind Pakistan (0,78) but is slightly ahead of USA (0.14).

More details about the US death penalty situation here.

The use of death penalty around the world (as of February 2011). Photo source: Wikimedia

In 2008 the worldwide execution rate grew to 2,390. 

• China executed 1,740, 
• Iran 342
• Saudi Arabia 102
• Pakistan 36
• United States 37
• Japan 15 people. 

Children were also not spared the death sentence. 

In some countries they try to execute people in a manner that they wouldn’t feel much pain, while in some countries the trend is the opposite. In Somalia, a girl of 13, who had been gang raped by three men (the men were not even arrested), was buried up to her neck in a football stadium in front of 1000 people and stoned to death.

In Iran the number of juveniles on death row grew to 140 up from 71 in 2007.

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Capital Punishment Trends in Different Countries

According to an October 2005 poll, 64% Americans, 44% Canadians 49% Britons support the death penalty. In all the three countries, support for capital punishment was lowest among 18-29 years olds.

29 % of Finns would approve of the death penalty as a punishment for certain crimes committed during peacetime. 41 % of those aged 35 to 49 are in favour of capital punishment. (Helsingin Sanomat, Suomen Gallup: November 21, 2006)

A recent government survey revealed that despite a recent rush of violent crimes in Japan, support for capital punishment had only risen by 2.1 percent, to 81.4%. (The Japan Times, February 20, 2005)

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Is Death Penalty Effective as a Deterrent?


No, death penalty is not an effective deterrent! Statistics show that the opposite is true.

Photo source: Blue states have no death penalty. Dark brown = only lethal injection. Orange=lethal injection primary method, but can use others. Green= never used lethal injections.

In 2007, the average Murder Rate of Death Penalty States in USA was 5.5 per 100,000 people, while the average Murder Rate of States without the Death Penalty was 3.1 per 100, 000 people. 

• Iowa (with no capital punishment) has a murder rate of 1.2 per 100,000 people. 
• New Hampshire (has retained capital punishment for capital murder, but the last execution was in 1939) has only 1.1 per 100,000 people murder rate. 
• Louisiana (a capital punishment state) has a murder rate of 14.2.

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A 1995 study of the annual percentage increases in homicide rates in California showed that murders increased 10% a year during 1952 to 1967 when the state executed people. When California did not execute people (1968-1991) the average rate of increase was less (4.8%).

Canada's homicide rate has dropped 27% since the death penalty was abolished in 1976.

A 1998 research study for the United Nations recommended a moratorium on the death penalty and concluded: 

"This research has failed to provide scientific proof that executions have a greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment. Such proof is unlikely to be forthcoming. The evidence as a whole still gives no positive support to the deterrent hypothesis." Source: R. Hood, "The Death Penalty: A World-wide Perspective," Clarendon Press, (1996), Page 238.

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What People Say - Quotes About the Death Penalty

• "Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders." "For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists." - 
  ALBERT CAMUS, 
  Resistance, Rebellion and Death
• "What says the law? You will not kill. How does it say it? By killing!" 
  -Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables

The best quote about death penalty can be attributed to the US President notorious for saying things in ridiculous ways.

• "I don’t think you should support the death penalty to seek revenge. I don’t think that’s right. I think the reason to support the death penalty is because it saves other people’s lives."  - 
  George W Bush at presidential debate 17.10.2000

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Why Should We Force Our Religious Views on Others?

A Christian bus driver in the UK refuses to drive a bus with an atheist slogan.

The advertisement "There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” runs on 200 buses in London and 600 vehicles in England, Scotland and Wales in an advertising campaign. The atheist Professor Richard Dawkins and the British Humanist Association officially back this anti-God campaign.

Bus driver Ron Heather, from Southampton, Hampshire, UK walked out of his shift on Saturday in protest. His employer, the bus company, First Bus said in a statement: 

"As an organisation we don't endorse any of the products or sentiments advertised on our buses. The content of this advert has been approved by the Advertising Standards Agency and therefore it is capable of being posted on static sites or anywhere else."

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Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, expressed: 

"I have difficulty understanding why people with particular religious beliefs find the expression of a different sort of beliefs to be offensive. "I can't understand why some people seem to have a different attitude when it comes to atheists."

Do States Define the Religions of its Citizens?

Is this ad inherently different from the message of organised religions? A building, a church, a temple, or a mosque is also a loud proclamation of the faith of believers. Buildings and religious congregations satisfy the needs of members, but without attacking other people faiths. Stating your viewpoint and professing your faith need not undermine or attack anyone else’s faith.

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Most countries of the world are tolerant of different religions or religious views of inhabitants. States have however, often taken extreme positions of intolerance. For example, on February 27, 380 AD, the Byzantine emperor declared, "Catholic Christianity" the only legitimate imperial religion, ending state support for the traditional Roman religion and tolerance for others. 



Track Record of the Catholic Inquisition

The Catholic inquisition is seen as a very bloody and gruesome affair. 

30 external historians working together with Vatican authorities, however found that more women accused of witchcraft died in the Protestant countries than under the inquisition.

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Outside Europe, the inquisition was a different story. The Goa inquisition, between 1560 and 1812, was designed to punish relapsed New Christians (Jews and Muslims). From the scant records not destroyed in 1812, it seems to have brought to trial 16 200 out of which 64 were burned and 57 executed.

The Inquisition Symposium, established in 2000 by the Pope, found that the Inquisition burned 59 women in Spain, 36 in Italy, and four in Portugal. At the same time in Europe, civil justice brought to trial 100,000 women and burned 50,000 of them. About 26,000 were condemned as witches in Germany.

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Theocratic States in the World Today

Though in Norway, Finland and Sweden the Lutheran Church and the state are joined, currently only Islamic states are theocratic. Saudi Arabia requires all Saudi nationals to be Muslims. The state recognizes individuals’ rights of non-Muslims to worship in private. Israel is also a Jewish theocracy, with a population 76.1% Jewish, 16.2% Muslim, 2.1% Christian, and 1.6% Druze, with the remaining 3.9% of other religions. But, Israel allows freedom of religion by law even to Israeli citizens.

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The first modern Islamic state, Pakistan was founded on 14^th August 1947. According to Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code you get the death penalty if you 

"by words . . . or visible representation . . . or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defile the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad." 

You can be sent to ten years in jail for outraging the religious feelings of any group. As of mid-2002, only the testimony of a single Muslim is sufficient to prosecute a non-Muslim on blasphemy charges.

Religion of Ruler Defined by Law

There are only few countries where the religion of the ruler is defined by law. 

• Saudi Arabia requires all Saudi nationals to be Muslims. As a ruler of Saudi Arabia has to be a Saudi national, the ruler has to be a Muslim. 
• The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran with its Shi’a Islam of the Jaafari (Usuli) school of thought also has no choice about religion.

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• The Emperor of Japan is currently the only ruler with the title of Emperor. In 1946, with pressure from US General MacArthur, he renounced his claim to being divine in human form (akitsumikami), but he did not renounce being a Aahitogami (a Kami or spirit being born in human form) or a descendant of Amaterasu (Sun Goddess in Shinto religion). 

The 44^th US president Barack Obama can convert to Islam, Hare Krishna, Bahái, or any other faith. But, one other very liberal Western democracy has a religious straightjacket for its ruler. The constitutional law prevents the monarch of UK from being a Catholic. As the head of the Anglican Church and as the “Defender of Faith”, the monarch cannot but be an Anglican Protestant officially. This could be a toughie for Prince Charles (with his holistic views and penchant for alternative 'treatments') when his time comes.

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Further References:

• Peter Wetzler, Hirohito and War, University of Hawai'i press, 1998, p.3
  
• Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
  
• Encyclopædia Iranica. Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University.
  
• Levack, Brian P. The witch hunt in early modern Europe, Third Edition. London and New York: Longman, 2006.
• Monter, William: Witch trials in Continental Europe, (in:) Witchcraft and magic in Europe, ed. Bengst Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2002, pp 12. 
• Salomon, H. P. and Sassoon, I. S. D., in Saraiva, Antonio Jose. The Marrano Factory. The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians, 1536-1765 (Brill, 2001), pp. 345-7.