Friday, November 10, 2006

Debating the dealth penalty

"To be or not to be, - that is the question…”
Hamlet (III, i, 56)

Death penalty – as the ultimate punishment, has been a raging debate in this country, fueled by the recent death penalty awards for two heinous crimes – attacking the ‘heart’ of Indian democracy and the brutal assault and murder of Priyadarshini Mattoo. Were the judges right is awarding the death sentence? Can’t comment on that, but then the judges handed down the stiffest sentences in the rulebooks and justifiably so!

The larger question here is – “Is the death penalty the only form of the strictest deterrent and punishment for the rarest of rare crimes?” To my mind no!, not because I believe in mush such as “if you can’t create life, you can’t take it” or “only God has the right to take life” etc etc but then the criminals, the lowest form of vermin, get away with so much less minus all terrible moments that their victims had to endure.

We got to change the rulebooks! The severest punishment for these vermin’s would be to throw them into solitary confinement. A cell with no natural light, no access to human faces, doesn’t get to hear human voices or any natural noises – only eerie silence, no TV, no radio, no newspaper, no magazines, no books, no nothing! Let them sit absolutely alone, and I really mean absolutely alone, and contemplate their deeds and their lives. Let them forget how the world looks! Take them out for 10 minutes on a varying frequency – once in 6 months, once in 8 months, once in a year or two! Nothing that the guy can look forward to.

To live and live like this! God!, the guy would barter it for death penalty any day! Then you know that they have faced their nemesis. Record what these guys have to say after 3 years of confinement and play that as the deterrent.

I guess its time we change the rulebooks!


"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;"
Macbeth (V, v, 19)

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