The Death Penalty

Can we hold the World Cup without it?

I’ve taken a moment to look at just how avaricious that sounds. I mean think about it, sentencing hardened criminals to death just so that we can hold a soccer tournament and the country can make a few extra bags of gold. But then you can also think about it in another way: serious crime might still prevent the tournament from happening at all, and serious crime must pay for it to be such a hit (pun intended) in South Africa. So then, who should profit more out of the 2010 world cup, marketers or murderers?

I once attended an Investec recruitment drive for graduates. What they did was they invited a bunch of promising graduates in centres all around the country. Then they posed a question to the group and evaluated their answers, listening etc. The question posed to us was: Capital Punishment – use it or lose it?
Personally I don’t have a definitive answer. Some issues, as far as I’m concerned, just aren’t that simple. Abortion is another example. It’s easy to paint the world with the same sweeping brushstroke, but it’s not right. And it’s not what’s best. There are a lot of details in the human story, and plenty of exceptions to the rule. If you’re a good human being, and you care about people, you’re sensitive to each person’s story, to the minutiae.

At this recruitment drive I made the point that in an ideal world capital punishment is crude and uncalled for. But in South Africa, crime is so serious that we can consider it (the death penalty) an act of collective self defense. We’re far from an ideal world, and will remain a troubled and broken society as long as we don’t deal with everyday realities. We ought to bring the death sentence back, temporarily, until the killing rate drops to a more civilized (almost-ideal-world) point. This was my belief then, and it hasn’t changed much since. Neither has crime.

David Bullard wrote with wit and wisdom in his column last Sunday on the same subject, suggesting we let murderers go on moonless nights in the Kruger Park to give them a sporting chance. ‘If they survive until morning they go free.” The real situation in this country is a lot less amusing, and the way we are coping with it even less effective than Bullard’s anecdote. Our prison system allows hardened criminals to mix with young offenders, so they are quickly upgraded to hardened warrior status. One inmate has said that not a single young criminal (awaiting trial) is not raped. If you arrived in jail as a hesitant scalawag, and you were considering the straight and narrow, a good seeing to by a hardened bastard (no pun intended) ought to set one permanently on the wrong track. This is where the system breaks down. You can’t just treat symptoms without overhauling the system. And in this whole operation one has to remain sensitive to those perpetrators who might be rehabilitated. The death sentence is meant to permanently remove people from society who can’t help themselves from wiping it out.

Bullard pertinently mentions the ‘muesli munchers’ as a group of apparently intelligent, apparently enlightened objectors. One opinion I’ve heard quoted more than once from the ‘muesli munchers’ is that the death sentence hasn’t even been proved to be effective. I’m sure there are cases in the USA especially where that might be true. But elsewhere it has been exceedingly effective. I have been to Singapore and Thailand, and they are remarkably civilized countries. The death penalty is available there to people addicted to drugs and murder. I think a death sentence for drug trafficking is a bit severe, but since I am not a drug trafficker or user, the world becomes a little safer and easier for me. Ever been to Singapore? It’s a pleasure. Murder is almost unheard of in Singapore (so is spitting and until recently, chewing gum).

I’m not suggesting Singapore’s standards for South Africa. They go a little too far. Oral sex for example, is also illegal (I’m not 100% certain of the fine print) between unmarried persons. But I am recommending, if we want to have a hope of having 500 000 visitors to our country making it safely into and out of our national stadia we ought to do something between now and then. If we don’t do something significant we may be seeing a certain percentage of that number (1% is 5000, 10% is 50 000) of them raped, hijacked, murdered or otherwise victimized while enjoying our unique South African hospitality.

I worry about people from different backgrounds, who don’t even speak English, walking around in South Africa, under the influence, footloose and fancy free, wanting to celebrate and enjoy themselves.
It’s not inconceivable that a severe crime spree targeted at innocent soccer tourists might actually prevent the 3 week long World Cup from running through to the finals. Imagine what a disaster it would be if people cancelled their plans after a high enough number of people came to grief? Imagine the lasting and damaging negative publicity echoing across news networks and around the world.

So what can we do? Ex New York mayor Rudi Giuliani has made some useful suggestions for South Africa: increase the number of policemen and stations in the country, run the cop shops like businesses, carefully account for all crimes, implement policing strategies and note improvements or deteriorations, use strategies that work (where crime stats come down) in other precincts.
That’s fine for a 10 year plan. We’ve got 4 years. And tonight the murderers will be out in force again.

Finally, going back to that recruitment debate: once all our arguments and counterarguments had been tallied, one of the Investec judges, a tall, fairly good looking guy, stood up and, having asked for our opinions on the death penalty, decided to give us his. He said: “The death sentence is absolutely, morally wrong. And it should never be brought back.”
Since then I’ve always borne a grudge against Investec. Sorry bud, that statement is just wrong. The death sentence is reprehensible because it is designed for reprehensible people. Imagine a person kills your sister, goes to jail, comes back, and kills your brother, goes to jail, comes back and kills your mother. Then, on his way out, he says: “I’ll be back for you.”
Should it be up to us – individuals in our homes – or government, to deal with these monsters? It’s not such a tough question if you’re not a murderer, or possibly a feckless banker.