The Death Penalty

There are many who believe that reinstatement of the death penalty will reduce crime.

This may even be true, however any reduction in crime if any, will be very small.

Consider that murder the most obvious crime punishable by the death penalty will probably not reduce by any significant amount. Murder is for the most part a crime of passion not reason. The majority of prisoners on death row are not career criminals.

If criminals are not caught and punished, of what use is any punishment no matter how harsh?

The problem is not severity of punishment but the very good chance that crime will not be punished. Currently in South Africa more than 74% of all crime goes unpunished. Crime pays and the chance of being caught is small. Boosting the efficiency of the police in capturing and processing criminals so that many more may be tried and put behind bars will make a significant difference to our crime rate.

Allowing citizens to defend themselves from crime and criminals with the best means possible will increase the risks of crime to criminals now less willing to take the chance of being thwarted, arrested, injured or killed.

Addressing the socio-economic problems and the culture of criminality is the only long term strategy that will work. The government believes that the expenditure of more than R1.2 Billion of TAX money and taking hundreds of productive police officers from the beat to harass licenced firearm owners will reduce crime. Despite being unable to show a single case in the world of success of what they wish to inflict on the public.

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