Just retain the death penalty

Regarding the death penalty, Kenya is a de facto abolitionist state, meaning that while the punishment remains in our law books, we have not executed anyone for over 10 years (35 to be precise). But that has not stopped human rights organisations from pushing for the repeal of this punishment.

However, there are good reasons for not only retaining the penalty but also executing capital offence convicts.

There’s the popular assertion that the death sentence does not deter crime. This is only partly true. Judicial execution is like a lighthouse: There is no evidence that the tower saves ships but we still do not pull it down.

And while executing a murderer, for example, may not deter other potential killers, it certainly deters them from committing any more murders, in prison or elsewhere.

What about the risk of executing a wrongly convicted person? As it is, Kenyan law provides multiple safeguards against sentencing an innocent person to death. The suspects are provided a free lawyer if they cannot afford one.

Capital offence convicts, like everyone else, have a right of appeal. Human life is of paramount importance but that applies to the victim’s life as well. The solution, therefore, is to fix the faults in our penal system, not abolish the death sentence.

It is also alleged that persons on death row suffer mental anguish regarding the uncertainty of their punishment. Maybe; but then, that problem could as well be solved by prompt executions.

Perhaps, the most compelling reason to retain the death penalty is that it is constitutional. Had the Kenyan people desired to get rid of it, the Constitution would have easily made life an absolute right.

- Mr Arori is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. [email protected]