Abolishing death penalty will not burden penal system
Posted on 15 October 2018 - 09:33am
Last updated on 15 October 2018 - 02:40pm
Last updated on 15 October 2018 - 02:40pm
KUALA LUMPUR: The move to abolish the death
penalty and stop all pending executions will not further tax the penal
system, said human activist Charles Hector (pix).
He said the Cabinet's decision on repealing capital punishment would
not add significantly to the number of prisoners in the country.
"The argument that the abolition of the death penalty will increase
prison population is absurd as the number of persons executed is small,"
said the lawyer.
"A total of 35 executions took place from 2007 to 2017, that is about
3.5 per year. Death row inmates are generally kept in solitary
confinement.
"As of end June 2018, we had about 1,267 people on death row, or 2.7% of the prison population of about 60,000 people."
"The maintenance of the death row and executions incur substantially more cost than ordinary imprisonment," he said.
"There will be no significant increase of (prison) population at all," he said.
Hector also said abolishing the death sentence would also not lead to the rise in serious crime.
"Malaysia has had the death penalty for serious drugs, firearms
offences and murder for so long, and that has not reduced the rate of
these crimes," he said.
"What will reduce the crime rate is the increased efficiency and
sophistication of law enforcement agencies to tackle these crimes."
Malaysian Bar president George Varughese said the government would
need to work with Pardons Board to ensure that the more than 1,250
prisoners on death row are spared the death penalty.
On June 28, Prison Department deputy director Supri Hashim said there
were 1,267 individuals on death row, or 2.7% of the prison population
that currently stands at 60,000 persons.
He said they were at various stages of appeal – 336 in the Court of
Appeal, 128 in the Federal Court, and 442 at the state's pardons board.- Sun Daily, 14/10/2018
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