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Crucial to substantiate deterrent effects of death penalty

The report “Calls to abolish death penalty ‘do not focus on victims of drug trade’” (Sept 27) stated Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam’s justification for the death penalty: Its deterrent effect and its importance in keeping us safe.

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Priscilla Chia Wen Qi

The report “Calls to abolish death penalty ‘do not focus on victims of drug trade’” (Sept 27) stated Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam’s justification for the death penalty: Its deterrent effect and its importance in keeping us safe.

First, criminology studies have demonstrated that certainty of enforcement provides a stronger deterrent effect than the severity of punishment.

Further, the question is not whether the death penalty deters, but whether its deterrent effect is significantly greater compared with alternative punishments such as life imprisonment and caning to justify taking away the offender’s right to life.

As the death penalty represents the gravest form of punishment, it needs sound, supportable justification. Substantiation of its deterrent effect and role in protecting society, including the interests of drug victims, is therefore crucial. Failing to do so undermines the case for retaining the death penalty.

And even if we assume that it does deter, there are moral limits to how far society should go to pursue the aim of deterrence.

A deeper problem is that the punishment deprives offenders of human dignity and life, which should be respected even if they may be deserving of punishment.

Therefore, whether capital punishment has a place in our society cannot be devoid of considerations of its moral permissibility. While the law is an expression of societal values, the death penalty is not the only way to express moral outrage. This can be expressed through alternative sentences such as life imprisonment.

Should the death penalty be removed, this would not signal that society condones such crimes, but that society diminishes itself whenever we take a life and that such a punishment offends our common respect for the value of life.

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