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- Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights puts it simply: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
- Abolitionists tend to advance two main reasons why it must go: it does not deter crime; and, as justice systems around the world are flawed, there is more than a possibility that someone will be punished wrongly, and irrevocably
- Proponents of the death penalty argue that this is the only way to compensate, or provide justice to, those affected by heinous crimes such as murder or terrorism. But an ‘eye for an eye' has no place in a modern, progressive criminal justice system.
- Internationally, there is an increasing trend towards abolition, with 96 countries doing away with it and 34 countries being abolitionist in practice
- On the other hand, China, the United States, Iran and other West Asian countries, and countries in South-East Asia buck the trend by frequently using the death penalty.
- In India, there has been no execution since 2004 but that is poor consolation considering the swelling number of those who face the threat of execution.
