Abolition of Capital Punishment: Is It Europe’s Gravest Mistake?

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death bed
Death bed
The death sentence or capital punishment was abolished in Europe by the European Court on Human Rights in 1950. Since then, European courts cannot impose the death sentence on any criminal regardless of whether the criminal has committed a heinous crime. The rationale for this law is that criminals can be reformed regardless of their criminal career. However, the public is divided over this issue.

Supporters of the death sentence claim that it can serve as deterrence for crime. European leaders recognised this fact for the last time shortly before capital punishment was abolished in Europe. They almost unanimously accepted that capital punishment was the only befitting sentence for senior Nazi and Japanese leaders responsible for Second World War atrocities. I think only a few people today can disagree with the European leaders over this judgment considering that the nature of crime committed by the war criminals was extraordinary.

Although it cannot be established whether the death sentence imposed on the Nazi and Japanese war criminals is the reason we have not experienced another mass atrocities in Europe, the imposition of capital punishment in Arab countries demonstrates that the death sentence can serve as an effective crime deterrence. In almost all Arab countries, the punishment for committing certain categories of crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and blasphemy against the prophet is punishable by death. The punishment for other lesser crimes such as fornication or petty stealing can involve flogging or amputation of one or both limbs. Hence, the rate of crime in Arab countries is far lower than the rate of crime in the west.

However, critics of capital punishment will point to the United States of America as an example of a place where the imposition of the death sentence does not help to deter crime. Capital punishment is permissible for crimes such as first degree murder and murder with aggravating factors in some American States including Texas, Arizona, and Ohio. Perpetrators are killed by electric chair or lethal injection. However, there is no indication that crime rate in these states is lower than the crime rate in other states without the death sentence. In other words, death sentence is not deterring potential criminals from engaging in criminalities.

Aside from being ineffective for controlling crimes, the death sentence can result in grave injustice to innocent people and their family members. The recent case of Glenn Ford, 64, illustrates this point. Mr Ford was found guilty for the killing in 1983 of 56-year-old Isadore Rozeman, a jeweller for whom Mr Ford had occasionally worked, and put on the death row in 1988. However, he was found not guilty of the crime last two weeks ago and released from prison where he had spent 25 years. It could have been a different story had he been killed before this truth came to light.

Although this case might not convince victims of very serious crimes that it is not the right form of punishment, the death sentence is not suitable for any kind of crime. The abolition of capital punishment in Europe appears to be one of the greatest achievements of past European leaders. Imposing life sentence on very dangerous criminals can serve as an alternative to the ultimate punishment. This becomes very important especially if the person serving life sentence is found not guilty of the act later into the sentence.

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