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India-Pakistan

Are public hangings the answer?

2020-02-18

I suppose you could try it and find out.

[DAWN] THE resolution from the National Assembly to publicly hang those convicted of murdering and sexually abusing children reflects how brutalised our society has become. While the world is forming a general consensus against cruel and inhumane punishments such as hanging, the majority of our politicians feel that a criminal’s barbarity should also be answered with barbarity by the state.

The fact that hangings have shown no decrease in the level of crime is ignored for the sake of rhetoric. If our politicians were indeed perturbed over crimes against children, more funds and attention would have been allocated towards the criminal justice system and the child protection legislation that is already in place.

It has been clear to our policymakers that what is needed is a rethink of the criminal justice system and to implement better child protection laws. For starters, it must be the police’s duty to report a crime related to a child; a hotline should be established for children’s cases in all provinces; identities of children should be kept confidential in closed hearings; there must be better training of law-enforcement agencies, and better and more available forensics; more female medico-legal officers and more women police personnel are required; and there should be a special code for examining vulnerable witnesses in court. This is not news but the lack of real priority accorded to children makes it easier to resort to rhetoric than actual work.

The facts of the Zainab Ansari case are telling. Zainab was the 12th victim in one year in an area of just two kilometres. The same murderer’s DNA had been found in the previous six cases. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, then chief justice of the Lahore High Court, while hearing a petition in Zainab’s case, expressed surprise that despite reports of similar incidents in Kasur, none of the cases were brought to court. The state was missing until social media created a public uproar and the ensuing rioting was reported widely on mainstream media. The lesson was that it is better to riot and take to social media than report a crime to the police.

Posted by:Fred

#3 Elizabethan drowning saves on gunpowder and wear and tear on ropes.

Posted by: rjschwarz 2020-02-18 15:07

#2 Recidivism rate is really low...

Posted by: Glenmore 2020-02-18 10:32

#1 Only Firing Squads are the most humane.

Posted by: newc 2020-02-18 01:28

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