A brief discussion on the Capital Punishment system of Bangladesh

1. Capital Punishment
Md. Salauddin Saimum
Assistant Professor
Department of Law
University of Rajshahi

2. Capital punishment also known as Death penalty, which is a
practice sanctioned by the state to put a person to death as a
punishment for serious crime.
According to the theory of Deterrence, capital punishment is an
effective way to stop crime.

3. Humanist organisations argues that death penalty is the ultimate
cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
Amnesty International recorded at least 579 executions in 18
countries in 2021
It further reported that at least 28,670 people were known to be
under sentence of death globally at the end of 2021.

4.  In 2021, most known executions took place in China, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia
and Syria.
 China remained the world’s leading executioner.
 Excluding China, 80% of all reported executions took place in just three
countries – Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
 According to Amnesty International, Bangladesh is one of the countries with
the highest number of executions in the Asia Pacific region.

5.  Capital punishment is cruel and unhuman. The death penalty is incompatible
with human rights and human dignity. A society that respects life does not
deliberately kill human beings. The death penalty does not respect the right to
life. It is the ultimate denial of human rights.
 The death penalty can’t be undone if new evidence, misconduct, or inferior
legal assistance is discovered later. It is irreversible and the risk of executing
innocent people exists in any justice system. The death penalty is based on a
fallible justice system

6. The death penalty is not a viable form of crime control, and it
does not deter crime. However, the death penalty can somehow
be used as a tool for control, but not justice. Executions are
acts of vengeance, not acts of justice.
The death penalty does not allow the guilty person to repent.
The death penalty does not guarantee the protection of society.

7.  Death Penalty degrades the value of human life and
brutalizes society. Sometimes it is found that the
man who has been convicted and sentenced to death
has been innocent of the said crime.
 Death Penalty is an impediment to the reformation
of the convicted person according to reformative
theory. Death Penalty denies the sacredness of
human life.

8. There is no conclusive proof that the death penalty
acts as a better deterrent than the threat of life
imprisonment. Some criminologists, such as William
Bowers of Northeastern University, maintain that the
death penalty has the opposite effect: that is, society
is brutalized by the use of the death penalty, and this
increases the likelihood of more murder.

9. A recent study by Columbia University Law School
found that two thirds of all capital trials contained
serious errors. When the cases were retried, over 80%
of the defendants were not sentenced to death and 7%
were completely acquitted.

11. Case Decision

12. Leading
Case

13. 1. It is not more effective than imprisonment as a deterrent
2. It lowers the certainty and speed of punishment
3. Errors of justice in the execution of the penalty are irreparable
4. It destroys respect for human life
(Sutherland, Principles of Criminology, p. 314)

14. Argument in favor of Capital Punishment
1. It is more effective than any other penalty in deterring individuals from murder
2. It is only certain penalty, because murderers who are sentenced to life
imprisonment often are paroled or pardoned
3. It is more economical than imprisonment
4. It is necessary in order to prevent citizens from lynching criminals
(Sutherland, Principles of Criminology, p. 314)

15. Argument in favor of Capital Punishment
1. The death penalty prevents future murders.
2. A just society requires the death penalty for the taking of a life.
3. When someone takes a life, the balance of justice is disturbed. Unless that balance is
restored, society succumbs to a rule of violence. Only the taking of the murderer's life
restores the balance and allows society to show convincingly that murder is an intolerable
crime which will be punished in kind.

16. Criticism on Capital Punishment: Bangladesh
Context
In our legal system, the death sentence is awarded to those who
commit the most heinous crimes. When a decision of a death
sentence by a trial court is sent to the High Court Division (HCD)
for confirmation, it takes years before it is heard and disposed of.
The HCD may or may not uphold such a death sentence and the
decision of the HCD may be challenged in the Appellate Division
of the Supreme Court which takes further time to conclude.

17. Criticism on Capital Punishment: Bangladesh
Context
A prisoner on death row, as a last resort, may apply for the
Presidential prerogative of mercy under Article 49 of the
Constitution. Therefore, with the acceptance or rejection of the
mercy petition from the President, a proceeding of a death sentence
comes to finality. From the date of passing the death sentence
till the conclusion of the appeal process in the Supreme Court,
a death row convict, on average, has to stay in a condemned
cell for around a decade.

18. Criticism on Capital Punishment: Bangladesh
Context
As of August 2021, a total of 782 death reference cases were
pending before the High Court for hearing. The trials of these
cases concluded six to sixteen years ago but the convicts remained
in condemned cells during this time. There are also instances where
prisoners languished in condemned cells for as long as 20 years
waiting for their appeals to be heard by the High Court Division.
The prisoners spend this delayed time with the torment of death in
10 feet by 6 feet sized cells.

19. Obaid Ali Case: Justice as a far cry
In 2018, Obaid Ali died in a condemned cell after
spending 13 long years as a death-row convict. He
died on the day he was scheduled to be released after
he was declared innocent by the apex court. He was
alleged and convicted for killing two police constables
in 2006.