I'm quite surprised at how many anti-death penalty peeps replied in this thread. I didn't think anybody could still be against it in a country where babies are being burnt alive in newspapers, but however that may be. The idea that the death penalty has no deterrent value is absolute nonsense. It may not deter everybody, but it would deter me. Since I'm not so arrogant as to think I am the most unique person on the planet, I can with good faith say that since it will deter at least me, it will deter some other people. In my opinion if it deters one murder a year then that's enough reason to reinstate it. Personally I would see it as punishment, and it would scare the crap out of me, though obviously it doesn't apply to some of the nihilists on this forum who don't seem to care if they live or die.
The idea that crime has suddenly only spread to white areas and that it was always like this in black areas is similarly nonsense. You'll find plenty of people living in townships that will tell you things are much worse now when it comes to violent crime. In fact it's so bad that quite a few random people end up stoned to death or burned to death every year. What's worse? Having a person stand trial for murder, found guilty, given the right to appeal for several years, and then being humanely disposed of, or have people take the law into their own hands, burn people alive etc. If you think evidence is "flimsy" in the courts then surely you must see that it is non-existent in many rural areas. Vigilanty justice is on the increase, and no, I don't care to go Google it for you.
A great many of the murderers in South Africa are repeat offenders, especially in the case of hijacking and farm murders so prevalent here. Many escape. Many are released within 5-10 years. Many that are released get arrested again for the same crime. Therefore I can say with 100% certainty that executing them will reduce the murder rate... by 100% of the repeat crime rate.
I also find it hilarious that several of the anti death penalty bunny huggers here argue that being jailed is a much worse punishment than being executed, then argue that we shouldn't implement the death penalty because evidence is "flimsy" and innocent people can be arrested. Is imprisonment only a worse punishment for criminals, but when an innocent person is involved then death penalty is suddenly worse? And if you're going to argue that you can never prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, shouldn't we do away with jail sentences altogether and just let everybody walk free? I mean how could you ever prove anything. Isn't it unfair to arrest people for ANY crime based on this, supposedly, easily faked and flimsy evidence?
Another argument was that the state could use it to make you disappear. Well, sorry to burst that pipe dream for you, but if the state wants you to disappear it's going to happen whether there is a death sentence available to do it with or not. Anybody who believes that governments don't have access to people who can make this happen has to be naive.
Lastly, somebody claimed that it would as expensive, if not more expensive, to execute somebody as it would be to keep them in jail. Absolute nonsense. Whether jail time or the death penalty is involved there will be appeal processes and trials and they will cost the same. However, after all that has been done and the criminals punishment is final you'd have to feed and house them for 25 years where the death sentence can be carried out very cheaply indeed. If you want to see how cheaply, give me a convicted murderer and I'll demonstrate.
In Japan they only give the death penalty for multiple murders with aggravating circumstances. Farm murders, hijackings and house robberies in this country would be covered by this, so I'd support a similar system here.
And just so this isn't completely off topic: I think rapists should be chemically castrated and given a literal life long jail sentence. This 25 year BS is a farce. I also really don't care about the remorse a murderer or rapist feels later, the victim ends up the same whether they decide they have an oh so guilty conscience or not.
