‘Death penalty has no place in the modern world’ |10 October 2013

The following is an opinion piece by British high commissioner Lindsay Skoll on the occasion of World Day against the Death Penalty.

Today is the 11th World Day Against the Death Penalty. I accept it is not an easy issue for many, but I would like to share some perspectives with you. Like Seychelles, the British government stands unequivocally against the death penalty in all circumstances and as a matter of principle.

The reasons are many, but not least because it undermines human dignity, it is irreversible, it leaves no space for appeal, no chance for clemency and no opportunity for the possible presentation of new evidence. No system of justice can ever be error free. Miscarried justice in instances where the death penalty is applied is an injustice to the victims of the crime, to the victim of the miscarriage and to society at large, as it leaves the true criminal at liberty and leaves an indelible scar on the conscience of us all.

Even more than this, the death penalty denies our humanity and the possibility of redemption. It denies the fact that even the guilty can feel remorse. It is blind to the importance of atonement, acceptance and rehabilitation. It represents neither enlightenment nor human progress; neither the sanctity of human life, nor the fundamental duty of the State to protect its citizens, not to wilfully kill them.

International progress on this issue is encouraging. In 2012, the UN General Assembly’s biennial resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty was passed with 111 votes in favour – more than ever before. The international momentum towards abolition, of which Seychelles and UK is part, is growing and indicative of world opinion. Yet today I would urge everyone to pray for those estimated 3,600 individuals executed in 21 countries last year, their families, communities and governments. Executions remain most numerous in China. More worryingly still was the increase in executions in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Yemen (including, horrifically, of minors) and the fact that some countries – including India and Pakistan – resumed executions after a lengthy moratorium. This proves we cannot be complacent.
 
This is not simply about what is popularly known in the UK as ‘bleeding heart’ liberalism. Nor is it about denying the horrendous impacts the most heinous crimes inflict. Abolishing the death penalty is often against the weight of public opinion and misinformation (as it was in UK in 1969.) But it’s about a realisation that no system of justice can ever be error free and that in this case two wrongs simply don’t make a right; it just creates more pain.

Whether through religious faith, philosophical perspective or simply from instinct, we accept that all human life should be precious. Our laws in Seychelles and UK enshrine this, with the most severe of punishment rightly reserved for crimes which take human life. But, if we wish to teach our children that killing is wrong, we must actively show them that killing is wrong. To take a life in revenge when a life has already been lost is not justice but tragedy.

Proponents of the death penalty regularly argue that it serves as a deterrent against the crimes for which it can be enforced. But this is consistently disproved by statistics on crime and surveys in attitudes to criminality and legislation. The fear of being caught prevents crime. The threat of a lifetime’s imprisonment is as effective a deterrent as the death penalty. Indeed for some individuals, driven by twisted religious ideals or a warped sense of reality, death may be a preferable option.

Crime falls when society moves forward, when it is coherent and when each member of society feels bound to the welfare of those around them.

We must all recognise that society and values can extend beyond local, regional, even national borders, and we in the UK, in Seychelles, and in the vast majority of countries, where the death penalty is no longer tolerated, must urge the rest of the global society to abolish capital punishment now. I hope that more countries will heed the call of the United Nations in affirming that the death penalty has no place in the modern world. If you would like to find out more, please visit: www.worldcoalition.org