I came across a poll on whether or not rapists should get the death sentence. Seventeen people said that yes, rape should be punishable by death, and only eight disagreed.
My personal opinion is that though it seems very tempting to award capital punishment for rapists, it’s just not practical. Here’s are my reasons:
1. The death sentence is for the rarest of the rare cases
While there’s no doubt that rape is a heinous crime, it is unfortunately quite common. If we award the death sentence for rape, there’s a danger we’ll become comfortable with the idea of killing people through sheer habit. We’ll get used to the idea that the state can legally kill people and in my judgment, that isn’t healthy.
Already people like Baba Ramdev are advocating the death sentence for corruption. How far do we go before we become okay with the state killing people off?
2. More women will be murdered
The death sentence for rape will end up being a death sentence for the rape victims. What’s to stop the rapist from making sure she never talks? As of now, killing someone is a greater crime than raping them. The punishment for most murders isn’t death, and to my mind this will give rapists a license to kill off their victims to make sure they don’t talk.
3. What’s the sentence for even greater crimes?
The idea of differing sentences is to make graver crimes have stiffer punishments. While there’s no doubt that rape is a grave crime, there are other crimes that are even worse. The Nithari killings come to mind where Koli raped and murdered six children. To my mind that is a more serious crime than a single act of rape and the sentence must reflect that. Kohli got the death sentence since it was an unspeakably brutal act and was also extremely rare. If every rape gets a death sentence, what sentence do we give people like Kohli? Torture?
4. Do we want justice or revenge?
In a civilized society, we gradually move from the concept of “punishment” to one of reform. Only when the court senses that a person is too far gone for reform does it even begin to consider a death sentence. This is sure to provoke strong responses, but do we really feel that no rapist can ever change? That they’re a foregone conclusion?
5. No space for mistakes
As it stands, there are many elements that go into proving a rape. With rape cases getting the death sentence, the burden of proof will be raised much higher – once you kill someone you can never bring them back. All the protections that women have begun to obtain from the law such as getting the benefit of the doubt, not having to be questioned too much etc, will be thrown out the window. When a person’s life is at stake, the prosecution will have the right to use the maximum and strongest defense possible. This will surely lead to an even lower conviction of rape cases than we have at present. Moreover, courts themselves will be forced to take longer to decide – taking someone’s life isn’t a thing one does in a few months.
I can imagine why this is an emotional topic for a lot of people and even after reading the above, many might feel that death is an appropriate punishment. What do you think?
[poll id=”22″]
There must be a death penalty for the rapist who have raped a minor………..
as Our Population is already 7 billion and millions of them are rapist , so we can kill them and reduce our population
The people who are raping are not human, they are just look like human , Kill all of ’em
They d0nt have any right to live after making others life hell
First they should be beaten in public places and then they should be hanged to death in public places …
And If u dont support death penalty for rape then I think that there is a rapist inside u
The person supporting rapist is also a rapist
In reply to Elvin
Wow – I think you just took the civilized world back by 400 years.
In reply to bhagwad
hey Indian fella, you dirty rapist
bloody indians are cruel rapists, they are corrupt, they will fly away to US if they are good at things , they have no faith in their country, look at ya corrupt system , and discrimanition
India sucks !! and for the rapist , I will pray May Someone rape your sister, wife and mother brutely, then you will realize what rape actually is :P
In reply to Elvin
Elvin I totally support you and the admin sucks
In reply to Elvin
Alright, we have to reduce the population. How about starting with YOU?
In reply to Indian
You are fool. Your father raped your mum , then you were born. otherwise a good person wont have views like you . You are yourself a result of rape by your father or may be someone else on your mother
In reply to Elvin
My, what an interesting thought! As if a child born of rape is sub human in some way or the other.
But then looking at your comment I shouldn’t expect you to understand logic.
Civilization doesnt mean that u have roads , cities and cars.
if u r using civilization in actual terms then these man who raping woman are not civilized. what if they get some cars , life style like normal human beings , actually they are animals and they shouldn’t be allowed to live in civilized world.
You say these men civilized who are raping women. He , who considers woman as a sex object isn’t civilized bro. Civilization is not applied only to advancement in technology and science, but it also means that human behavior is also improving day by day.
Hanged them to death, i know it wont reduce the rape crime rate that much
but the men doing rape must be killed .
In reply to Elvin
The men who rape may not be civilized…but we are.
Civilized people don’t kill or torture other human beings. It’s not a club where you have membership – it’s a way of life. So even if we meet someone who’s barbaric, torturing them (or killing them) is wrong.
so you mean we should keep quiet and let them torture us ????????????????????????????
no !
for the sake of humanity kill them!!
You’ve said we cant torture other human beings, but the rapist, I dont consider them human beings.
In reply to Elvin
“Keep quiet”? No. We put them in jail.
We serve no purpose by torture other than to satisfy our bloodlust. I cannot accept that as a decent and civilized goal.
I disagree with you. But this is a real serious crime. And something like this should be punishable by death.
You may have strong arguments against the death sentence for rape, and it’s hard to deny them, but until and unless you can give the world a clear solution that can help countries like India among others rid itself of this abominable disease in the very near future, your arguments are pointless. Touch wood, lest one of us has to bear the consequence of having a loved one go through a similar situation, but it’s easier to be passive until you are faced with such desperate situations.
Yes, human life is valuable, every single one of them, but letting things stay as they are or hoping that things will improve over time does not further anyone’s cause. More importantly, it’s not about what the right punishment is for a disgusting offence like rape, but rather what it stands for, whether society understands the severity of the situation, which it does not. Maybe it’s the ignorance of men, maybe it’s the failure of society to expose such incidents and stop the criminals from getting away, maybe it’s a failure of the law and the judiciary systems, or maybe it’s combination of all of the above among other things. But needless to say that sometimes humanity has to take drastic measures to ensure that what is left of it can be saved. I’m sad to say this but humanity has seldom progressed without the loss of a few lives.
When 9 month old infants get raped by unknown assailants, 13 year olds get raped by their own father and uncle for two years or when young women are afraid to step out of their houses in the dark, what point is for them to live their lives? Under fear, stigma, scars for life. Hardly surprising that many rape incidents eventually end up in death (either murder or suicide) or similar life-threatening situations. And you dare justify the life of those rapist scum minority against the freedom, life and humanity of the innocent majority, shame on you sir. I may come across as a cold person right now who is speaking on a purely emotional basis, but no, I’m not. I have seen this happen time and again for the longest time, nothing has changed and there is little to believe it will.
At the end of the day, the question is how far are YOU willing to go to protect YOUR loved ones. A society without fear is a society in fear. Thing about it. Death is not the solution, but it is a strong and compelling path to the destination. And like the saying in Hindi goes, “to get something, you may have to let go of something else”. Cold yes, but humanity is bigger than the individual.
In reply to Ashwin
I’ll say that humanity has often progressed without any loss of life. In fact, some of the best progress has come about peacefully – like the civil rights movement, legalization of homosexuality in India etc…
It would also be good if you could give statistics showing that countries having the death sentence for rape (Arab countries for example. Or Pakistan) have lower incidences of rape. As far as I know, this is certainly not the case. If your goal is to reduce incidences or rape, the death penalty will not do that.
Sorry to say, but the death sentence has too many problems. I don’t particularly care about human life. It’s just that there are insolvables when it comes to this.
OK, I clearly wasn’t expecting that. By saying that you don’t particularly care about human life, you have disqualified yourself of credibly representing the absolution of death penalty.
Secondly, if stats are your thing, take a look here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics
Pay close attention to the numbers of countries like Yemen, Kuwait, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Syrian Arab Republic and UAE among others. While these numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt, they provide a stark distinction with the rest of the world. Now, there may be other reasons for these, not the least of which is a severe stance on sexual offences and a hard and steadfast application of their laws.
Once again, there may be too many problems with the death sentence, but who gives a fuck seriously, that is not even the real problem. The bigger problem is to solve this rape-friendly mentality / culture and such extreme means are the only way out unless you can provide a better solution.
No seriously, if you have a better solution, I’m all ears.
In reply to Ashwin
Your solution will only make things worse. More women will be murdered and cases will take even longer to resolve.
I’m curious as to what you think about each and every objection I have raised in my post – after all, that is why I wrote it no?
On a side note, you have to ask how many cases go unreported in the Arab world. Otherwise a bare reading of your tables shows that Kenya and India have 30 times less rape than in the US and UK! Do you really believe that? On the other hand, Japan has an extremely low rate of rape even without the death penalty. How does that support your thesis?
This is the mentality that has lead us to here.In a male dominated society what else can you suggest that will create fear in minds of these people and as far as your view of “far grater crime” its just an example of its easy being to measure the degree of wrong from the outside . i believe there is evil/good in everyone this is man’s nature if we are not going to have fear strike the heart of evil then this will never end as you say more women will get killed so why will they be getting killed thats because they will not stop raping women as far as we are not willing to go for the extreme step.
In reply to Mayank
Why, the solution is easy! Faster justice is the answer. The existing laws are good enough. It’s just that criminals are convinced that it’ll take years for them to be put behind bars – if at all.
Implement existing laws quickly and see how fast the situation will improve.
Also, I didn’t quite understand your reply above. How does it address the points I made in my post?
Everyone is jumping on the death-penalty bandwagon, due to the ignorance of what unjust laws can do to the society.
Already poorly legislated laws like 498a/DV are causing havoc in the system of marriage. So many false cases are filed to settle scores, cover the misdeeds of the wife (husbands so far don’t have such a choice), extorting money/property from husband or his family members, forcing husband and their family members to dance to their tunes etc. The families who are closely known to such victims immediately develop distrust towards their own wives and daughter-in-laws (what if she files such a case in future?). This is not a healthy indication.
I read this recent news : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Raped-senior-citizen-admits-to-consensual-sex/articleshow/17684005.cms
If death-penalty was already there and this person was executed before the lady admitted it, what was the remedy suggested to compensate that person then???
Death-penalty for rape will initiate a bigger social anarchy, given that recent Supreme Court order says that penetration is not must for proving rape. Virtually anyone can be trapped in a death-penalty-ensured case and extorted and then the accused-turned-victims will turn real criminals in future. It will be utter chaos in the country.
Thus I warn.
In reply to Indian
Forgot to mention.
Warning to the advocates of death-penalty : Tomorrow, it could be one of your near and dear one who might get trapped in a false rape case and be executed while you watch helpless.
In reply to Indian
hey, at what degrees and under what condition your blood boils…or does it even boils ever…???
In reply to Anjali Singh
And that was for extortion!!!
In reply to Anjali Singh
My blood does not boil, it stays at 37 degree celsius, becoz I am a HUMAN. I am totally against a law that has the potential to misuse – like 498a/DV.
Otherwise make the law gender neutral, and make false complaints also have compulsory death penalty.
In a primitive society there is no crime and no punishment. When people organized themselves into an institution called family and society it laid down norms for saving the family , the person, the property which are necessary components for a harmonious life in a society. Violators of this were kept in isolation , away from the family and society, so that the sanctity of the institutions are kept in tact, life is protected. On a similar basis those who eliminate persons, those violate bodies of persons which cause or may cause disintegration of the society or family were awarded death punishment as their presence might mean ultimate dissolution of the family and society and a return to the Primitive stage. So death or imprisonment for violators should be considered from that perspective.
In reply to raghunath patra
@raghunath
So called primitive society had more moral values, people who were innocent were never punished just based on someone’s allegation. Even if it happened that someone alleges false allegations and it is known so, that “false complainant” is also treated similarly : isolation. But in todays society, that is not the case. There are several instances where some criminal minded women allege rape for revenge, extortion or covering of own misdeeds and to attract sympathy. Sometimes the people in law enforcement also colludes with them to share the extorted money. When death penalty is made compulsory, there will be a burst of such false cases as there is stonger reason for the victim here to budge and part with the money/property demanded.
Tomorrow it could even be you who might get trapped in such a false case and you will have no other way to escape self-woven net than to succumb to extortion. Currently, there is no punishments for filing false cases, and our system is far from a fare system
In reply to Indian
People in primitive societies were punished all the time on false allegations. Allegations of being a witch, lynch mobs, public executions, burnings, torture. It was a horrible time to live.
Don’t make the past rosy. We’re currently living in the best time of human history ever.
In reply to bhagwad
And now you want to revive that [horrible] past? If not, ask for strict punishments for false cases. And also make laws gender neutral. There are cases of sexual crimes commited by females on males.