CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
A DETERRENT TO SERIOUS CRIME

The abolition of the death sentence along with the government's playing deaf to the pleas of ordinary crime-ridden, fear-stricken citizens of the country on this matter, has only exacerbated the already intolerable murder rate. There is no more deterring factor left for cold-blooded, callous murderers, who have become totally brazen in taking the lives of innocent men, women and children for trivial material gain and at times for nothing at all.

On the other hand, the sweeping amnesties granted by the state to hardened criminals and releasing them almost within months after having committed heinous crimes against the law-abiding citizens of the country on the flimsy grounds of over-crowding prisons, has not helped the situation in any way. It is quite common these days, to hear of dangerous prisoners being released after having spent only a fraction of their long sentences behind bars. Many others have escaped and are at large, carrying on a crime-riddled existence with total impunity.

Much support is ostensibly taken by the judiciary for the repealing of the death sentence from the Bill of Rights that entrenches the right to life. This may be so, but did not the murdered person have the right to his or her life in the first instance? Has not the murderer forfeited his own right to life by taking the life of another? Yet the murderer is virtually shielded and protected from severe retribution by the judicial establishment of this country, by its quaint verdicts to the extent that he is allowed to continue with his aggression against fellow beings within months of his previous convictions. Hardly any one seems to have the power to do anything about the situation, while criminals are enjoying a field day. This prevalent state of affairs is nothing short of blatant injustice.

If this country is to enjoy any degree of peace, stability and economic progress, crime would have to be stamped out vigorously. As much as the South African Police Services are trying to arrest criminals and bring them to book, they are fighting a hopeless battle as long as the judicial system in this country is not drastically revised. Appropriate punishment of criminals, that would serve as clear deterrents to other criminals, is essential to bring back some semblance of law and order to this trouble-torn land.

The present tidal wave of crime pounding our society has rendered human life extremely cheap and worthless. Human life has to be accorded the respect it deserves. Those individuals in society that do not show respect towards the lives of fellow beings, themselves do not deserve the sacred and precious gift of life. Murder is the antithesis of life. The murderer is an aggressor against the individual and society. Protecting the murderer by abolishing the death sentence is aggression against the society and mankind at large.

One serious danger of abolishing capital punishment is that it could well lead to retaliatory attacks by frustrated relatives and friends of the victim. This seeking of revenge and retaliation could further lead to faction fights and gang warfare and this would result in murder and mayhem of a far greater scale. This in turn could result in the total breakdown of law and order. If the family of the deceased have some kind of assurance that the offender against their beloved one would be dealt with within the confines of proper justice, it would not lead to the unnecessary loss of other lives. In fact, many lives would be protected in the process. Proper and appropriate justice in the instance of murder and other serious offences would mean retribution by capital punishment and not in a prison sentence that could be commuted at a later date to a lesser term in prison as is the current judicial trend.

It has been observed that in those countries of the world where capital punishment is still in operation, the crime rate, especially murder, is distinctively low in comparison to countries where capital punishment has been discarded. Notable in this regard is that in some of the Islamic countries in the Middle East where capital punishment is absolutely meted out to murderers and other serious offenders, the crime rate is virtually nil. Such fear has been instilled in the minds of would-be criminals by the firm action of law-enforcement agencies, that the rate and odd case of murder receives unprecedented coverage by the media and generates much concern in the general public. Recently, visitors from this country to some of those countries could hardly believe their eyes at the relative safety and security that prevails in those lands, even in the late hours of the night, whereas the ordinary citizen living in this country is living in constant fear and apprehension even in broad day light regarding the safety of his very life and property. Enhanced security and alarm systems are not the answer to the problem nor is an increase in police presence the solution. The solution to this problem is simply the re-ordaining of Capital Punishment and a completely fresh approach towards crime and criminal activities by the Judiciary of this country.

A loud and clear message has to be sent to all potential criminals and murderers in particular, that murder is the greatest crime, an open violation of the basic human right to life, hence the penalty of violating such a right has to be extreme, that being capital punishment. It is the only way of maintaining the harmonious existence of man on earth along with his fellow beings. No human being, no matter who he may be, has the right to deny another human being this basic right to justice.

Worthy of praise and commendation are those pressure groups that are working at grass roots level to campaign for the re-instatement of the death penalty. An appeal is directed to the majority of the law-abiding citizens of the country to lend this cause their full support in which ever way possible. Enough is enough!!

Mufti Z. Bayat

Islamic Information

Source:  Jamiatul Ulama (Kwazulu-Natal)