Victims prefer jail to death for kasab

[Sajit]

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/2611-victim-p...ml?from=tn

Chicago: As Ajmal Kasab awaits punishment after being held guilty in the Mumbai attacks, the widow of an American killed in the terror strikes says she does not favour death penalty for the Pakistani gunman and prefers him to be jailed for life.
Kia Scherr, whose 13-year-old daughter was also killed in the 26/11 strikes, further said she is planning to visit India later this year and would especially like to meet "the families of those who lost their lives in the attack" in November 2008.
"I have never favoured the death penalty. More killing does not solve anything. Kasab should remain in the Indian prison system for life. In the meantime, I favour rehabilitation and education," Scherr told PTI in an e-mail statement.
Kasab will be sentenced tomorrow by a special court in Mumbai with the prosecution demanding death penalty, branding him a killing machine manufactured in Pakistan.
Scherr's husband, Virginia resident Alan Scherr, and their daughter Naomi were at Mumbai's Oberoi Hotel when Kasab along with nine other Pakistani terrorists held the city hostage for three days killing 166 people, including six Americans.
Terming the court's guilty verdict as "appropriate", Scherr said "I do think this verdict of guilty for Ajmal Kasab will bring some closure to the families of the victims".
Planning to visit India later this year, Scherr said she would like to meet the people of Mumbai.
"Mr Oberoi, the owner of the Oberoi Hotel, where my husband and daughter were killed, is in support of our message and has agreed to be an honorary member of our Board of Advisors. He invited us to be his guests when we come to Mumbai," she said.
Scherr said if Kasab could be moved to tell the truth, he could "perhaps prevent more young men from joining the terrorist groups. I am open to this possibility and would be willing to have this conversation with him".

[Sajit]

What are the views on the death penalty at Nirmukta?

[Lije]

Personally I don't prefer the death penalty, especially in a country like India where it so easy to fabricate evidence. There is too much of chance that a prisoner may be found not guilty later on.

But in Kasab's case, he might actually welcome it. 72 virgins and all.

[siddharth]

At a philosophical level, my personal view is that the death sentence is "wrong". Killing for killing is hypocricy, not justice.

Also, killing someone who came to die anyway is hardly justice. Someone like this needs rigorous imprisonment for the rest of his life so that he pays for it everyday, and not be done with it in a few hours.

Studies also very clearly show that they don't act as a deterant. Enforcement is the only deterant.

Also, the state's job is to reform, and not just punish.

However, my view on death sentence to individuals who are a part of in international organisation is not yet formed. In spite of my view against the death sentence, a few points crop up when dealing with international organisations.
1. Such individuals need to be provided extra security to prevent the organisation from providing for the prisoners escape. This means huge costs to the state. They spend crores on Kasab every week, and a country like India can't afford that.
2. Keeping a member of an international organisation alive leaves room for hijackings, etc, which puts several more innocent people into serious life risk.

So to sum up, my views are not clear to myself and I'll need to contemplate more.

[Sajit]

(06-May-2010, 12:07 PM)siddharth Wrote: At a philosophical level, my personal view is that the death sentence is "wrong". Killing for killing is hypocricy, not justice.

Also, killing someone who came to die anyway is hardly justice. Someone like this needs rigorous imprisonment for the rest of his life so that he pays for it everyday, and not be done with it in a few hours.

Studies also very clearly show that they don't act as a deterant. Enforcement is the only deterant.

Also, the state's job is to reform, and not just punish.

However, my view on death sentence to individuals who are a part of in international organisation is not yet formed. In spite of my view against the death sentence, a few points crop up when dealing with international organisations.
1. Such individuals need to be provided extra security to prevent the organisation from providing for the prisoners escape. This means huge costs to the state. They spend crores on Kasab every week, and a country like India can't afford that.
2. Keeping a member of an international organisation alive leaves room for hijackings, etc, which puts several more innocent people into serious life risk.

So to sum up, my views are not clear to myself and I'll need to contemplate more.

Good post Sid.

[palaeo]

(06-May-2010, 12:07 PM)siddharth Wrote: At a philosophical level, my personal view is that the death sentence is "wrong". Killing for killing is hypocricy, not justice.

Also, killing someone who came to die anyway is hardly justice. Someone like this needs rigorous imprisonment for the rest of his life so that he pays for it everyday, and not be done with it in a few hours.

Studies also very clearly show that they don't act as a deterant. Enforcement is the only deterant.

Also, the state's job is to reform, and not just punish.

However, my view on death sentence to individuals who are a part of in international organisation is not yet formed. In spite of my view against the death sentence, a few points crop up when dealing with international organisations.
1. Such individuals need to be provided extra security to prevent the organisation from providing for the prisoners escape. This means huge costs to the state. They spend crores on Kasab every week, and a country like India can't afford that.
2. Keeping a member of an international organisation alive leaves room for hijackings, etc, which puts several more innocent people into serious life risk.

So to sum up, my views are not clear to myself and I'll need to contemplate more.

I totally agree. I do feel that there is a lot of money spent on this one man. But I also feel that prisoners should not be made to wait years to get sentenced. It's a waste of time, money and would eventually break down the prisoner. Just because a person did something terribly wrong, does not make him any less human. Rehabilitation is possible and I think the death penalty is just ignorant. It saddens me to see all these educated people in the newspapers enthusiastically saying he should be killed. He was just a kid, and he was probably lied to, trained, and coached to be a terrorist by someone who knew better.

[siddharth]

@palaeo

The celebrations going on is weirdly sickening. No matter what, we as a society should not celebrate death of anyone. That's what the terrorists do. Even when the death penalty is justified, and even when the death penalty is probably welcomed individually, in my opinion, it should not be celebrated in the manner it is.

[Ajita Kamal]

This might be a bit too heavy for this conversation, but if you really want to explore the consequences of taking science-based thought to its logical ends, here are an excellent collection of articles from the naturalistic perspective, contemplating the concepts of retribution and punishment: http://www.naturalism.org/criminal.htm

[siddharth]

Ajita, this is brilliant. I'll read it in its entirety when I can. Thanks for sharing it. The only works I have read (in part) so far on justice are by Plato and Amartya Sen.

[shobhitg]

Isn't "imprisonment for life" going to be a burden over the jail system?

People growing old (without kids living with them) who also struggle with their daily bread; those old people would love to commit crime to go to jail for rest of their lives.

[Sajit]

(06-May-2010, 07:31 PM)Ajita Kamal Wrote: This might be a bit too heavy for this conversation, but if you really want to explore the consequences of taking science-based thought to its logical ends, here are an excellent collection of articles from the naturalistic perspective, contemplating the concepts of retribution and punishment: http://www.naturalism.org/criminal.htm

Thanks for the link Ajita, I knew you would come up with some good stuff