July 9, 2007
DEATH PENALTY NOT A DETERRENT BUT A CAUSE OF VIOLENCE
Fatima Aburto, IPS News
Fortunately for humanity, the death penalty is being eliminated from the
world. Executions have dropped by 25 percent between 2005 and 2006 and the
countries that still have the sanction are growing fewer and fewer, writes
Fatima Aburto, Socialist spokesperson for the Commission on Foreign Affairs
of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies.
In this analysis, Aburto writes that while a moratorium is not the same as
abolition, it does offer the opportunity to demonstrate that the death
penalty is not a deterrent but a cause of violence and vengeance. The
moratorium also frees its supporters from the feeling of complicity, however
indirect, in causing the death of a human being through execution.
This is all the more relevant today in the context of international
terrorism, which can be easily manipulated by those in power to convince the
people that a barbaric punishment like the death penalty might increase
security. Apart from the fact that this argument is flat wrong, tapping
people's fears in order to awaken their instincts for vengeance and cruelty
is absolutely despicable. The fight against terrorism will only succeed when
it is rooted in a complete respect for human rights and fundamental
liberties.
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Source : IPS News
http://www.ipsnews.
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