NCJ Number
87114
Journal
Social Defence Volume: 17 Issue: 67 Dated: (January 1982) Pages: 25-34
Date Published
1982
Length
10 pages
Annotation
India's new Code of Criminal Procedure provides that life imprisonment should be used in lieu of capital punishment when possible. India's High Court has refused to render the death penalty unconstitutional, however, because experts remain divided on the issue, and a large segment of the public supports it.
Abstract
Statistics available from 16 States and 4 Union Territories for 1961-70 show that 6,733 persons were sentenced to death but only 797 were executed. The legislative policy on the death sentence has undergone a basic change in India. The old Code of Criminal Procedure provided that a person convicted of murder was to be sentenced to death as a normal rule, and if a lesser sentence was imposed, the reasons were to be recorded in writing. By an amendment, this provision was deleted. The debate on capital punishment continues, however. The advocates of capital punishment generally hold that it deters persons from committing particularly heinous crimes and that it is the appropriate sentence for a person who intentionally kills another. Those arguing for the abolition of capital punishment, on the other hand, maintain that it does not deter the crimes for which it is provided, based upon historical studies of periods when capital punishment was regularly used. Further, abolitionists argue that the decisionmaking processes of any criminal justice system are fallible and that putting an offender to death obviously prevents any correction of errors made in deciding the case. Sixteen references are listed. Countries and States in the United States providing for the death penalty are listed.