2008 Mumbai Attacks Conviction And Capital Punishment

[mcgillianaire]

The alleged sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks has been convicted for murder and waging war with India. The Pakistani national is likely to be sentenced to death. Although executions are legal in India, they are rarely used. In 1983, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the death penalty should be imposed only in "the rarest of rare cases". The last execution was in 2004 when a security guard was hanged in Kolkata for the rape and murder of a schoolgirl fourteen years earlier. However, it appears the last trained hangman in India has retired, leaving the country with no executioners! And even if Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab is sentenced to death, it will merely result in "a lengthy series of appeals and an indeterminate wait on death row". Ninety-five countries have abolished capital punishment. But what do you think? Are there exceptional crimes that deserve punishment beyond a lifetime of incarceration? Share your thoughts!

[Poll #1559687]

Comments

[dubaiwalla.livejournal.com]

Two of you have already brought up cost. I'm too lazy to look for a citation, but in the US, executing someone costs more than a life sentence on account of the lengthy appeals process, high burden of proof, and so on used to ensure the wrong person isn't put to death. Usually.

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

Heh, why doesn't this surprise me? Well, that's me told then.