Death penalty – buckling under pressure

Under pressure from the protector of criminals group, the govt of Sinkieland has given way to moderate its tough position on the death penalty. Putting on a brave front by staying the penalty, the knees are wobbling. Judges are now given more discretion to spare the lives of serious criminals in this tough weak stand.

The onus and responsibility, and conscience, have now been passed to the poor judge who will now be hounded by his values, religion, by the public pressure on him to be a nice guy instead of the cool disinterested party that is there to see that the law is executed. It is no longer the politician’s problem.

Criminals will now breathe easier and more desperadoes will take the gamble, knowing that death is not a certainty. The drug lords will game the system and carefully choose the pathetic and pitiful cases to be their runners knowing that the kind judges with the kinder tough laws could give way with a few sob stories. The poor ah mah and ah kong or the little boys and girls could just do the trick as the perfect runner.

While more criminals will be spared the gallows, would it also lead to more victims of drug abuses? If it does, then society will become fairer and more inclusive in a way, with drug criminals enjoying more kindness and fairplay while drug abusers finding it easier to get their drugs. The drug pushers, the drug addicts and the drug criminal protectors will be happier. The govt too will be more comfortable without the criminal protectors breathing down their necks. It is a win win for all parties.

Another way to pardon those that deserved the death sentence would be to make them confess and to reveal their handler, get the latter convicted and exchange a life for a life. The main task of the enforcers must be the bigger drug lords up the chain of command. Pardoning the low down courier should be a good exchange for someone higher up. Anyone down the line could have his life spare if they could assist in the hanging of someone above them, hopefully all the way to the top.

Just like the loan shark curse, all the time the people being caught are the little runners. What is the point of catching the runners when the real problem is at the top of the chain? The system should be tweaked only to facilitate the arrest of the biggies. Then the softening of the death sentence against the runners can be justified. Otherwise a weak stance is a weak stance and would compromise the effectiveness of using death penalty as a deterrent. When a deterrent is no longer a deterrent, might as well do the popular thing and do away with it altogether.