An error-prone criminal justice system and the exaggerated use of death sentences by trial courts uphold the case against the death penalty.
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– Reflections on Sentencing Developments
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The Supreme Court validating sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of release by excluding remission raise questions about both the desirability of such a punishment and also about the serious disruption in the separation of powers.
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The cognitive psychologist, Steven Pinker, identifies ‘the escalator of reason’ as a historical force, which has helped reduce violence in societies. For India’s criminal justice system to climb the escalator of reason, our political and judicial leadership need to create and preserve a culture of the dispassionate study of the human costs and benefits of retribution, no matter how serious the shock to our conscience.
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The Ordinance is problematic as it ignores the realities of the Indian criminal justice system and the nature of child sexual abuse.
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There is no doubt that sexual violence perpetrated on children is profoundly disturbing.
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The amendments to the Indian Penal Code passed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh introducing the death penalty as a possible punishment for the rape of a girl below the age of 12 years
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The study allows us to better understand judicial thought processes on the death penalty while locating it within the broader context of India’s criminal justice system.
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In Matters of Judgment, an opinion study among sixty former Supreme Court judges on the death penalty and the criminal justice system, former judges strongly acknowledged the role of personal backgrounds while exercising judicial discretion in the context of capital cases.
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Pranab Mukherjee’s troubling record on clemency for death-row convicts
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While making judgments, courts are supposed to go beyond the crime committed to gather a holistic picture of the accused's life. But the lack of training and resources makes this difficult to practice.
Crimes are as much about social failure as individual responsibility. Justice must be tempered by this reality
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Crimes are as much about social failure as individual responsibility. Justice must be tempered by this reality
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