The debate on the reinstatement of the death penalty has returned to our news following a series of murders (homicides without premeditation) and assassinations (homicides with premeditation, therefore considered as murder with aggravating circumstances). Should we give blow for blow knowing that certain principles of the Republic are different from a religious dogma? The most common argument is deterrence: killing those who kill to discourage or even prevent murder).
Law of retaliation and judicial errors
Have we thought about all aspects of the issue, including judicial errors? What if all the clues were sufficiently consistent, the cries of the crowd so loud? Therefore, what will happen afterwards if all the circumstances combined end up winning the inner conviction of the judges and juries and the presumed guilty person falls under the ambit of the law? What should we do if, long after the sentence has been carried out, we realize that the condemned person was innocent and that the real culprit had ended up confessing? Do you think that compensation would be enough to repair the error? Should we right an injustice with an injustice? No, justice must be fair.
The guarantee of fair justice
What if the state, through its justice system, deliberately and mistakenly killed based on accusations and suspicion? In the final analysis, will the supporters of the death penalty propose the means, the method to be used to carry out the sentence? By shooting with a firing squad, beheading, hanging, lethal injection, electrocution, gassing? How is crime doing in countries that have adopted the death penalty? Certainly, there must be reparation for the victim and protection of society against individuals who are dangerous to put out of harm’s way and who, from an economic point of view, are costly during their prolonged stay in prison.
However, we must not, by going quickly to the task, know only one side of this very complex question. It deserves in-depth reflection with consideration of all its aspects: legal but also human, social, economic, cultural, security.
Doctor Biram Ndeck NDIAYE, jurist and author
