Can you imagine a situation where it is just like a normal morning & you got to see in news channels about a criminal being executed in public? No matter, what his crime was, will you go there and attend that brutal ceremony in any condition to see a person being killed brutally in front of your eyes? He could either be hanged, stoned to death or shot, may be dragged or burnt alive. Is there so much anger inside you that you would go to witness that ceremony? Is that what the human race and our humanity has come down to?
Public execution is a kind of death penalty given to criminals in which the general public attends the whole scenario and some supports too. Today, most of the countries are totally against public executions. In the past, these were preferred because of their capacity for deterrence. But seeing how horrific and cruel they are in actual; it became illegal to execute someone publicly.
For an instance, we can look into Anne Boleyn’s beheading in London has stuck in the public imagination for over the years and our interest to research about executions and mentality behind this has endured for even longer. Human history is loaded with examples of people taking a trip to the local town market to watch some accused dying gruesome death. It is a phenomenon that is present from ancient times, and can still be found occasionally today in some villages or even towns in developed nations also.
Nowadays, the popularity of the public execution had faded away, it is forced into darkness as a more liberal, educated and literate people began demanding more appropriate punishments which are not so brutal. It is not hard to understand what made these events so captivating and fascinating. They were especially designed to demonstrate the power of state while putting a sense of fear, entertaining and subduing the masses. And for many years they served their purpose rightly.
Giving a most appropriate example which can be biggest con of public executions is the stoning of Soraya M. It deeply sickened me to know that in Islam, women are treated so brutally and cruelly. The woman was accused of committing adultery, but the fact is that she didn’t committed adultery, she was framed by her husband who wanted to get rid of her because he wanted to marry a second wife who was a twelve-year-old girl.
In many Muslim dominated countries, women are treated as they worth less than a man, their words are not worth anything unless they can bring another woman as proof of their dignity to verify they are truthful and even then they might not be believed, they do not receive the same respect and designation as a male do, they are the property of their father and later of their husband. They can be married off to whosoever their father decides.
This blog basically states its opposition to death penalty for the simple fact that, apart from being an inhuman penalty, it does not deliver true justice. There is also no evidence to the fact that executions act as deterrent or they lower the rate of crime. Our Law always tells us to follow the procedure established to punish the criminals. Everybody has their right to life, we are no one to violate someone’s right. A fair trial is also everybody’s right. Let’s pledge to change ourselves a bit.
Picture : popmatters.com