Views on the death penalty among college students in India
| DOI | 10.1177/1462474507087199 |
| Author | K. Jaishankar, Shanhe Jiang,Sudershan Pasupuleti,Eric G. Lambert,Jagadish V. Bhimarasetty |
| Date | 01 April 2008 |
| Published date | 01 April 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
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1462-4745; Vol 10(2): 207–218
DOI: 10.1177/1462474507087199
PUNISHMENT
& SOCIETY
Views on the death
penalty among college
students in India
ERIC G. LAMBERT, SUDERSHAN PASUPULETI, AND SHANHE JIANG
University of Toledo, USA
K. JAISHANKAR
Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, India
JAGADISH V. BHIMARASETTY
R.M. College of Social Work, India
Abstract
While research abounds on attitudes toward capital punishment in the United States,
such work has been lacking in non-western nations – particularly in India, the world’s
largest democracy. Data recently collected have revealed variance in levels of support for
the death penalty among Indian college students: 44 percent express some degree of
opposition, 13 percent are uncertain, and 43 percent express some degree of support.
Reasons for support or opposition also exhibited variance. According to a multivariate
analysis, statistically significant reasons for support included retribution, instrumentalist
goals, and incapacitation; while significant reasons for opposition included morality and
the belief that deterrence could be achieved by imposing sentences of life without parole.
Key Words
capital punishment • death penalty support • death penalty views • India
INDIAN VIEWS ON THE DEATH PENALTY
In the past 30 years, the number of countries implementing the death penalty has
dropped considerably. As of 2003, 80 of the world’s 195 nations had taken an
abolitionist stance on capital punishment. Twelve nations had instituted capital
punishment only for extraordinary crimes, such as treason or war crimes; another
41 had instituted capital punishment but had not used it for a decade (i.e. they were
de facto abolitionists). Thus, only 62 nations in the world use capital punishment for
civilian crimes (Hill, 2005).
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PUNISHMENT & SOCIETY 10(2)
India is a retentionist nation. Yet little has been published, at least in western
journals, on the Indian population’s views on the death penalty. In fact, no published
study examining death penalty support in India could be located in any major database
of western literature. Hence, with an eye to illuminating the factors underlying support
or opposition to the death penalty, namely by providing heretofore lacking insight into
non-western views, this research note examines the attitudes of Indian college students
toward capital punishment.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Capital punishment in India has a long history. The execution of offenders was common
in ancient India (Raghavan, 2004), and the legal system was influenced by the Hindu
concept of dharma, or the rules of right conduct (Raghavan, 2004). India’s contempor-
ary government and legal system are also heavily influenced by its more recent past as
a British colony. In 1947, India obtained independence and became a sovereign nation
(Raghavan, 2004), but the current criminal justice system is still based mainly on the
English common law system, which allowed for capital punishment (Raghavan, 2004).
For the crime of murder, Indian judges in the early 20th century could impose a
sentence of death or of life in prison. A written justification was required for sentences
of life in prison, but not for death sentences (Batra, 2004); hence, death sentences were
more commonly imposed.
In 1955, the 26th Amending Act changed this requirement. In 1973, the India
Supreme Court ruled in Jagmohan Singh v. State of U.P. (1973, 1 SCC 20) to further
narrow the use of capital punishment, and it reaffirmed in Asgar v. State of U.P. (AIR
1977 SC 2000) that the death penalty, though constitutional, should be used only in
exceptional cases (Batra, 2004). In 1980, the India Supreme Court further ruled in
Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (AIR 1980 SC 898) that capital punishment should be
restricted to the rarest of rare cases (Batra, 2004). Although current law permits judges
to interpret these rulings, it also requires them to explain in the record why a person
was sentenced to death rather than to life in prison (Batra, 2004; Gupta, 2006).
Both the Indian Constitution and the current Indian Penal Code authorize the use
of capital punishment. Article 21 of the Constitution provides that a person shall be
deprived of life or personal liberty only in accordance with legally established procedures
(Batra, 2004), and Section 53 of the Penal Code permits capital punishment as a form
of punishment (Batra, 2004). In India, the death penalty can be imposed for the follow-
ing crimes: murder; waging of war against the State (including terrorism); mutiny;
sacrificial killing of widows; a second conviction for drug-trafficking; abetting of the
suicide of a child, or of a person who is insane, incompetent, or intoxicated; and
attempted murder while serving a life sentence (Commission of Sati Prevention Act
1987; Raghavan, 2004). In India, murder is punishable by either death or a life
sentence; however, after 14 years, a person sentenced to life can be released
(http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org, 2006). Persons 16 or older can to be sentenced to
death – in spite of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which India
ratified in 1979, and which prohibits the death sentence for persons under 18. Persons
sentenced to death are allowed different levels of appellate review, which in many cases
results in the commuting of the death sentence to life imprisonment or release.
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LAMBERT ET AL.
Views on the death penalty among college students in India
Additionally, the President has the power to issue pardons (Hands Off Cain, 2006).
Hanging is the sole method of execution (Raghavan, 2004).
Unlike the USA, India does not release official death penalty statistics, such as the
numbers of those executed and those awaiting execution (Hands Off Cain, 2006). In
response to demands for such figures, the Deputy Director of the Prisons recently stated
that the release of such information was not in the public interest (Amnesty International,
2005). However, it has been estimated that 3000 to 4000 executions occurred between
1950 and 1980 (Batra, 2004). Information on the numbers of persons sentenced to death
and executed from 1980 to the mid-1990s is harder to estimate. According to Raghavan
(2004), two or three persons are hanged per year. Since 2000, the number of death
sentences appears to have increased (Majumder, 2005). In March of 2004, an estimated
160 individuals were on death row in India (Hands Off Cain, 2006).
Like many retentionist countries, India has been the site of much death penalty-related
controversy, which has led to several unsuccessful attempts to outlaw capital punishment
(Blackshield, 1979). Additionally, as in the USA, perceptions exist among Indian citizens
that the death penalty is unfairly administered. Indeed, most of those executed in India
are ‘illiterate, poor, and vulnerable’ (Gupta, 2006: 2). Caste status and economic status,
which are closely interrelated, are probably important factors in death penalty decisions
in India. Dhananjoy Chatterjee, prior to his recent execution in India, remarked: ‘I would
like to be reborn as a rich man as justice favours only the rich’ (Gupta, 2006: 1). In
particular, the death penalty debate has been affected by the case of Mohammad Afzal,
a Muslim, who received the death sentence after his conviction for conspiracy in the
December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. His execution has been...
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