YOURSAY | ‘Life imprisonment is always better for heinous crimes - make them suffer for a long time.’
Pak Pandir Jay: Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh is only human in wanting an eye for an eye. Who would not when a nine-month-old is murdered and even more so, after knowing what happened (the baby was allegedly raped, sodomised and abused).
The civilised discourse, however, would be to state that the death penalty does not deter future crimes. If so, who are we to end a life so blatantly akin to the Isis, who also kill for a cause?
As an MP, your words carry much more weight than the ordinary public. Please refrain from shooting from the hip, oh learned one.
NNFC: I think Ramkarpal feels the anger following the recent incident. All of us also feel the same. But we cannot avenge the senseless death with more violence, and in this case, with the death penalty.
In considering the removal of the death penalty, the parliament and attorney-general must ensure that the removal of the death penalty is not a reduction of the sentence, but actually a penalty in a different form and shape.
Quigonbond: This is rather hare-brained suggestion from Ramkarpal, isn't it? The whole idea of death penalty is not to execute someone because the risk of letting an innocent victim slip through the system (which is irreversible).
What is to determine that rape cum murder is more heinous than trafficking drug or murdering another because of business or political feud?
Manoharan Malayalam: Life imprisonment is a life-long punishment. Death penalty makes the pain disappear immediately.
So, life imprisonment is always better for heinous crimes - make them suffer for a long time.
Anonymous 820581439249394: Taking a life, however heinous a crime, brings bad karma.
Correction and/or rehabilitation with work within a prison environment for however long, based on the type and intensity of the crime, is humane.
Anon: There must be justice for the victims. Their lives are cruelly snatched away. They won’t get to grow up and grow old. Won’t get to laugh, play and be happy. A family loses a child, a husband or mother.
This is not about our right to kill or our karma. This is about justice for the victims.
AnonyMas: I agree. A person who rapes and kills a baby cannot be rehabilitated. I would never want them to walk the streets again.
I wonder if the baby/person was from your family, would you not ask for his life? I would.
Gaji Buta: The bottom line is whether you believe it is okay to take another person's life or not. It is not about how terrible a thing the person did or did not do.
Anon: The death penalty should not be repealed until and unless the majority of Malaysians ask for it. I am so fed up with a group of liberals trying to set the agenda for the rest of the country.
New Hope: We cannot have the cake and eat it as well. Either the death penalty is repealed or it is not.
In view of the drug problem, repealing the death penalty will remove the deterrent on drug pushing and trafficking, which is not a wise move at this moment.
Pahat Mari: I support the death sentence for serious cases, like rape and murder, planned murder. There might be cases of misjudgements but these are very, very rare.
Those who murdered somebody must pay for it. As for drug trafficking, maybe an amount above 500g should be sentenced to death. Why should we feed those criminals for 30 to 40 years?
Anonymous_f0124ca6: What’s an exceptional case? Ramkarpal’s suggestion to have the death penalty for exceptional cases will give rise to more difficulties and trauma for the loved ones of the victims.
There could be disputes and heartbreak if a victim’s case is deemed “unexceptional”.
I believe that the death sentence is exceptional and that whatever the circumstances, I would prefer a custodial sentence.
Kangkung: Ramkarpal, who gets to choose which are “exceptional cases”? You?
Only when children get murdered, they get to be classified as “exceptional cases"? Innocent adults who were murdered are not “exceptional cases”?
And you want evidence against the accused to be beyond reasonable doubt. Have you heard of Anthony Ray Hinton?
Why did your late father and you yourself act as lawyers for drug smugglers who were sentenced to death? Don't drug smugglers “kill” thousands through the drugs they smuggle?
Ramkarpal, at the end of the day, the death penalty is all about retribution and nothing about justice.
Lone_star: After abolishing the death penalty, the next step should also be taken.
Those who have had the death penalty converted to life sentence and claims that he/she is innocent should be given a lifeline, like a Malaysian version of the Innocence Project.
ABC123: It is true that death penalty has no deterrent effect. But does life sentence have any deterrent effect?
Yes, it is inhumane to sentence a man to death. But isn’t it more inhumane to sentence a man to life within four walls?
Is punishment only about acting as a deterrent or are there other factors such as the punitive effect and closure for victims' families?
Do those who advocate life sentence over death penalty understand the logistics of life sentence and the ever-growing increase in prisons that will be required?
Shovelnose: With so many human factors at play, let's not play God and dish out punishment such as taking the life of another.
It is sufficient that multi-year imprisonment is considered, but definitely not to decide whether the accused lives or not.
Human beings cannot implement any sort of punitive system perfectly whatsoever, for whatever individual reasons.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.