As an inherently passive nation, it is somewhat surprising that there are so many passionate voices out there asking for the death penalty. Anerood Jugnauth and Showkutally Soodhun have both admitted being in favour of capital punishment to deal with our drug problem. Many people have echoed that sentiment.

This is what happens when we fail to renew our political class and get stuck with ideals from another era. An era of senseless violence where we fight fire with fire. Now, regardless of the ineluctable moral implications of bringing back the death penalty, it is only logical that we listen to the other side of the argument.

Some believe that it is not fair that we use taxpayers’ money to accommodate and feed prisoners that are involved in crimes deemed worthy of a more radical punishment. Most people though — this is what concerns us more — believe that it will eradicate dangerous criminals and deter others from joining the same path. “Kill criminals and we’ll get rid of crime,” seems to be their motto.

A high school kid could point out the holes in that argument but we’ll take the bait. While it might be hard for the least transparent government in ages to provide us with any, facts and figures would do us a world of good. Give us the numbers that prove that the death penalty deters crime. We all know that is hogwash.

In 2009, researchers from the University of Colorado-Boulder found that a majority of criminologists are convinced that the death penalty is nowhere near being a deterrent for crime. In an article in Newsweek, John Donohue, professor of law at Stanford University, argued that there is "not the slightest credible statistical evidence that capital punishment reduces the rate of homicide".

On the other hand, it is true that people, including journalists, have become so partisan that they will only follow the sources that confirm their bias. Surely, there must be studies out there claiming that the death penalty deters crime. As a matter of fact, in 2003, researchers from Emory University claimed that three to 18 lives could be saved for each executed killer. The veracity of the claims was questioned and eventually deemed to be inconclusive.

We need definite proof to even start talking about the death penalty and, given human nature, that is not bound to happen in the near future. Bringing back the death penalty would set us back so many years that even talking about it seems to be prejudicial to our country’s already faltering human rights record.

The greater fool theory is an economic concept stating that a buyer may pay a ridiculously high price for something because he has the rational expectation that the item can be resold to a greater fool in the future. If we pay the price for bringing back the death penalty now, there is no way we’ll be able to move on from that.  We will be the greater fools.  

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