Should Capital Punishment Be Introduced Again?
In a country famous for the high rate of rape and murder, I believe that new measures against the crimes of rape and murder need to be debated, and stricter measures need to be put in place. Many people believe that criminals no longer fear the consequences of committing such crimes. Castration of rapists was debated briefly in Parliament recently and yet I am sure that many people including myself would gladly welcome such a measure. However, the silence of the public caused that debate to fade away into nothingness.
In South Africa a women is raped every 36 seconds and a person is murdered every hour. We need to ask ourselves, why has society not protested against this en masse? Why are our voices silent on the two of the most prevalent issues in South Africa? It horrifies me that a rapist can only be put in jail if a woman can prove rape via DNA evidence, even if the women says who the man is that tried to murder her.
It was not enough when Anene Booysen was on her deathbed she said named the perpetrator as "Zwai". Davids, known as Zwai was released free of charge because of "lack of evidence". Why would a young woman lie about the perpetrator on her deathbed, when she was dying from the psychical wounds of abuse? Are minimal consequences and complicated procedures truly serving justice for the victims of these heinous crimes?
How can we expect the rate of rape and murder be reduced and ideally eliminated, if the consequences of such crimes offer a better lifestyle than being on the street? I understand that prison is not a bed of roses, but many criminals would gladly take the daily hot meal, TV, shower and bed that comes with prison, than starve themselves to death digging through the trash bins of South Africa's streets. The consequences of rape and murder do not impose enough fear for a criminal to refrain from committing such crimes.
Whenever the capital punishment question comes up there is the query about morality, with people immediately citing that the government has no right to take a life, and that the free will of people should not be imposed upon. Yet logically, that argument makes no sense because if capital punishment were in place, a person would still be exercising their free will as they still have the choice of whether to commit the crime or not.