DEATH PENALTY SHOULD NOT BE ABOLISHED

AS A CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN BANGLADESH

 EAST WEST UNIVERSITY

Report on Death Penalty should not be Abolished as a Capital

Punishment in Bangladesh

Course Code: Bus361

Section: 02

Submitted To:

Fariha Abedin

Senior Lecturer

Department of Law

East West University

Submitted By:

Name ID
Md Rakib Uddin 2016-2-10-198
Munmun Akter Moni 2016-3-10-052
Md Abdullah Al Hossain 2016-2-10-236
Md. Al Helal Hossain 2016-3-10-032
Sumaiya Jannat 2016-3-10-028
Almanur Tanzina 2016-3-10-014

Date of Submission: 29th December, 2019

Table of Contents:

Serial Topic Name Page Number

01 Abstract 01

02 Introduction 02

03 History of Death Penalty 03

04 Arguments 11

05 Recommendation 14

06 Conclusion 15

07 Bibliography 16
 Abstract
Death penalty is called capital punishment, execution of an offender sentenced to death after
conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. Capital punishment should be distinguished
from extrajudicial executions carried out without due process of law. Death penalty is the height
and cruel punishment. This punishment executed in different ways and different societies. Section
19/A the Arms Act, 1878 deals with the capital punishment in section 25 B of the special Powers
Act permits death penalty. Some provisions of some other loss deal with capital Punishments in
Bangladesh. Death penalty is a legal process where a person is put to death by the state as a
punishment for a crime. It is actually a part of criminal law. In 2011 almost 60 countries
throughout the world practices the death penalty. The manner of execution is different from one
country from another. Death penalty is called for the execution of defendant is convicted of a
crime is the ultimate possible penalty for the commission of a crime.

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 Introduction

In Bangladesh capital punishment for death penalty is a legal form of punishment for anyone
who is over 16, however in practices will not apply to persons under 18. In Bangladesh, crimes
that are currently punishable by death are set out in the Penal Code 1860. We exercise death
penalty as capital punishment to execute the murderer a convict of vital crime from ancient time
in Bangladesh. Ordering the sentence that someone be punished in such a manner is referred to
as a death sentence. There are so many arguments for or against death penalty. Capital
punishment or death penalty is the most controversial one but it is been exercised by many of
countries. We are supporting death penalty because it is a deterrent for others who may consider
committing the same crime. One point of argument for punishment of criminal is that by
punishing someone who has a committed a crime, others will be deterred from committing the
same or similar crimes. If someone knows that he or she could be executed for breaking law,
then he or she will be less likely to follow through with the commission of a crime. The
conditions of detention of the people sentenced to death might differ from one country to another
but they affect us all. So, death penalty is a legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating the
law.

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 History of Death Penalty

Anarchist Auguste Vaillant guillotined in France in 1894

Execution of criminals and dissidents has been used by nearly all societies since the beginning of
civilizations on Earth.[12] Until the nineteenth century, without developed prison systems, there
was frequently no workable alternative to ensure deterrence and incapacitation of criminals. In
pre-modern times the executions themselves often involved torture with cruel and painful
methods, such as the breaking wheel, keelhauling, sawing, hanging, drawing, and quartering,
brazen bull, burning at the stake, flaying, slow slicing, boiling alive, impalement, from a gun,
blood eagle, and escapism.

The use of formal execution extends to the beginning of recorded history. Most historical records
and various primitive tribal practices indicate that the death penalty was a part of their justice
system. Communal punishments for wrongdoing generally included blood money compensation
by the wrongdoer, corporal punishment, shunning, banishment and execution. In tribal societies,
compensation and shunning were often considered enough as a form of justice. The response to
crimes committed by neighboring tribes, clans or communities included a formal apology,
compensation, blood feuds, and tribal warfare.

A blood feud or vendetta occurs when arbitration between families or tribes fails or an arbitration
system is non-existent. This form of justice was common before the emergence of an arbitration
system based on state or organized religion. It may result from crime, land disputes or a code of

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honor. "Acts of retaliation underscore the ability of the social collective to defend itself and
demonstrate to enemies (as well as potential allies) that injury to property, rights, or the person
will not go unpunished.

In most countries that practice capital punishment, it is now reserved for murder, terrorism, war
crimes, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In some countries sexual crimes, such as
rape, fornication, adultery, incest, sodomy, and bestiality carry the death penalty, as do religious
crimes such as Hudud, Zina, and Qisas crimes, such as apostasy (formal renunciation of the state
religion), blasphemy, moharebeh, hirabah, Fasad, Mofsed-e-filarz and witchcraft. In many
countries that use the death penalty, drug trafficking and often drug possession is also a capital
offence. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption and financial crimes are
punished by the death penalty. In militaries around the world courts-martial have imposed death
sentences for offences such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and mutiny.

Ancient history:

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883). Roman Colosseum

Elaborations of tribal arbitration of feuds included peace settlements often done in a religious
context and compensation system. Compensation was based on the principle of substitution
which might include material (for example, cattle, slaves, land) compensation, exchange of
brides or grooms, or payment of the blood debt. Settlement rules could allow for animal blood to
replace human blood, or transfers of property or blood money or in some case an offer of a
person for execution. The person offered for execution did not have to be an original perpetrator

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of the crime because the social system was based on tribes and clans, not individuals. Blood
feuds could be regulated at meetings, such as the Norsemen things.[17] Systems deriving from
blood feuds may survive alongside more advanced legal systems or be given recognition by
courts (for example, trial by combat or blood money). One of the more modern refinements of
the blood feud is the duel.

Beheading of John the Baptist, woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld, 1860

In certain parts of the world, nations in the form of ancient republics, monarchies or tribal
oligarchies emerged. These nations were often united by common linguistic, religious or family
ties. Moreover, expansion of these nations often occurred by conquest of neighboring tribes or
nations. Consequently, various classes of royalty, nobility, various commoners and slaves
emerged. Accordingly, the systems of tribal arbitration were submerged into a more unified
system of justice which formalized the relation between the different "social classes" rather than
"tribes". The earliest and most famous example is Code of Hammurabi which set the different
punishment and compensation, according to the different class/group of victims and perpetrators.
The Torah (Jewish Law), also known as the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Christian Old
Testament), lays down the death penalty for murder, kidnapping, practicing magic, violation of
the Sabbath, blasphemy, and a wide range of sexual crimes, although evidence suggests that
actual executions were rare. A further example comes from Ancient Greece, where the Athenian
legal system replacing customary oral law was first written down by Draco in about 621 BC: the
death penalty was applied for a particularly wide range of crimes, though Solon later repealed
Draco's code and published new laws, retaining capital punishment only for intentional

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homicide, and only with victim's family permission. The word draconian derives from Draco's
laws. The Romans also used death penalty for a wide range of offences.

Modern Era:

Antiporta of Dei delitti e dellepene (On Crimes and Punishments), 1766 ed.

In the last several centuries, with the emergence of modern nation states, justice came to be
increasingly associated with the concept of natural and legal rights. The period saw an increase
in standing police forces and permanent penitential institutions. Rational choice theory, a
utilitarian approach to criminology which justifies punishment as a form of deterrence as
opposed to retribution, can be traced back to Cesare Beccaria, whose influential treatise On
Crimes and Punishments (1764) was the first detailed analysis of capital punishment to demand
the abolition of the death penalty. In England Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the founder of
modern utilitarianism, called for the abolition of the death penalty. Beccaria, and later Charles
Dickens and Karl Marx noted the incidence of increased violent criminality at the times and
places of executions. Official recognition of this phenomenon led to executions being carried out
inside prisons, away from public view. In England in the 18th century, when there was no police
force, Parliament drastically increased the number of capital offences to more than 200. These
were mainly property offences, for example cutting down a cherry tree in an orchard. In 1820,

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there were 160, including crimes such as shoplifting, petty theft or stealing cattle. The severity of
the so-called Bloody Code was often tempered by juries who refused to convict, or judges, in the
case of petty theft, who arbitrarily set the value stolen at below the statutory level for a capital
crime.

20th century:

Mexican execution by firing squad, 1916

In Nazi Germany there were three types of capital punishment; hanging, decapitation and death
by shooting. Also, modern military organizations employed capital punishment as a means of
maintaining military discipline. In the past, cowardice, absence without leave, desertion,
insubordination, shirking under enemy fire and disobeying orders were often crimes punishable
by death (see decimation and running the gauntlet). One method of execution, since firearms
came into common use, has also been firing squad, although some countries use execution with a
single shot to the head or neck.

Various authoritarian states—for example those with Fascist or Communist governments—

employed the death penalty as a potent means of political oppression. According to Robert
Conquest, the leading expert on Joseph Stalin's purges, more than one million Soviet citizens
were executed during the Great Terror of 1937–38, almost all by a bullet to the back of the head.

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Mao Zedong publicly stated that "800,000" people had been executed in China during the
Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Partly as a response to such excesses, civil rights
organizations started to place increasing emphasis on the concept of human rights and an
abolition of the death penalty.

Capital Punishment by Countries:

Most countries, including almost all First World nations, have abolished capital punishment
either in law or in practice. Notable exceptions are the United States, China, India, Japan, South
Korea, Taiwan and most Islamic states. The United States is the only Western country to still use
the death penalty. Since World War II, there has been a trend toward abolishing the death
penalty. 58 countries retain the death penalty in active use, 102 countries have abolished capital
punishment altogether, six have done so for all offences except under special circumstances, and
32 more have abolished it in practice because they have not used it for at least 10 years and are
believed to have a policy or established practice against carrying out executions. According to
Amnesty International, 23 countries are known to have performed executions in 2016. There are
countries which do not publish information on the use of capital punishment, most significantly
China and North Korea. As per Amnesty International, around 1000 prisoners were executed in
2017.

The use of the death penalty is becoming increasingly restrained in some retentionist countries
including Taiwan and Singapore. Indonesia carried out no executions between November 2008
and March 2013. Singapore, Japan and the United States are the only developed countries that
are classified by Amnesty International as 'retentionist' (South Korea is classified as 'abolitionist
in practice'). Nearly all retentionist countries are situated in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. The
only retentionist country in Europe is Belarus. The death penalty was overwhelmingly practiced
in poor and authoritarian states, which often employed the death penalty as a tool of political
oppression. During the 1980s, the democratization of Latin America swelled the ranks of
abolitionist countries. This was soon followed by the fall of Communism in Europe. Many of the
countries which restored democracy aspired to enter the EU. The European Union and the

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Council of Europe both strictly require member states not to practice the death penalty (see
Capital punishment in Europe). Public support for the death penalty in the EU varies. The last
execution in a member state of the present-day Council of Europe took place in 1997 in Ukraine.
In contrast, the rapid industrialization in Asia has seen an increase in the number of developed
countries which are also retentionist. In these countries, the death penalty retains strong public
support, and the matter receives little attention from the government or the media; in China there
is a small but significant and growing movement to abolish the death penalty altogether. This
trend has been followed by some African and Middle Eastern countries where support for the
death penalty remains high. Some countries have resumed practicing the death penalty after
having previously suspended the practice for long periods. The United States suspended
executions in 1972 but resumed them in 1976; there was no execution in India between 1995 and
2004; and Sri Lanka declared an end to its moratorium on the death penalty on 20 November
2004, although it has not yet performed any further executions. The Philippines re-introduced the
death penalty in 1993 after abolishing it in 1987, but again abolished it in 2006. The United
States and Japan are the only developed countries to have recently carried out executions. The
U.S. federal government, the U.S. military, and 31 states have a valid death penalty statute, and
over 1,400 executions have been carried in the United States since it reinstated the death penalty
in 1976, including 28 in 2015 alone. Japan has 109 inmates with finalized death sentences as of
December 27, 2018, after executing 15 inmates[80] including Shoko Asahara and six other
senior members of Aum Shinrikyo, a cult group which carried out multiple atrocities involving
thousands of victims such as the Tokyo subway sarin attack, which took place on 20 March
1995, on 6 July 2018 followed by the executions of the remaining six senior members on 26 July
2018. The most recent country to abolish the death penalty was Burkina Faso in June 2018.

Capital Punishment in Bangladesh:

Capital punishment in Bangladesh is a legal form of punishment for anyone who is over 16,
however in practice will not apply to persons under 18. Crimes that are currently punishable by
death in Bangladesh are set out in the Penal Code 1860.These include waging war against
Bangladesh, abetting mutiny, giving false evidence upon which, an innocent person suffers
death, murder, assisted suicide of a child, attempted murder of a child and kidnapping. The Code
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of Criminal Procedure 1898 provides that "he be hanged by the neck until he is dead. “For
murder cases, the Appellate Division requires trial courts to weigh aggravating and mitigating
factors to determine whether the death penalty is warranted. The Constitution of Bangladesh
does not anywhere expressly recognise International Human Rights law, although some articles
recognise international human rights. Article 25 of the Constitution recognizes the United
Nations Charter. Article 47 recognizes international humanitarian law and provides that the
Constitution will not limit the application of international treaties and the law of war. A person
can receive the death penalty if they are found guilty of crimes against women and children. The
Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000 provides that the death penalty can be
imposed for murder or attempted murder involving burning, poison, or acid.[8] Causing grievous
bodily harm by burning, poison or acid, if the victim's eyesight, hearing, face, breasts or
reproductive organs are damaged. Therefore, criminals in Bangladesh can be sentenced to death
for attempted crimes and causing grievous bodily harm. A number of offences (crimes not result
in death) are punishable by death when committed by armed forces personnel. These offences
include, providing aid to the enemy, cowardice and desertion and inducement to such and
cowardly use of a flag of truce or any act calculated to imperil Bangladesh. According to the
World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Bangladesh carried out six executions in 2017. The
Human Rights Council under the Universal Periodic Review reviewed Bangladesh in 2009. A
strong recommendation was made for the abolition of the death penalty. The Bangladesh
government in response to this said: “The death penalty is maintained in Bangladesh only as an
exemplary punishment for heinous crimes such as throwing of acid, acts of terrorism, planned
murder, trafficking of drugs, rape, abduction of women and children. Both the judiciary and
administration deal with these cases of capital punishment with extreme caution and compassion,
and such punishment is extended only in ultimate cases that relates to gross violation of human
rights of the victims. Bangladesh has an extremely low rate of implementation of such death
penalties.” The fact that a very wide range of crimes are punishable by death potentially conflicts
with Bangladesh's International obligations. Allowing the death penalty for crimes such as
kidnapping or drug trafficking is contrary to the ICCPR's mandate which states that the death
penalty should only be applied in the most serious of cases. According to panel code 1860,
section 54 is communication of sentence of death. In every case in which sentence of death shall
have been passed, [the Government] may, without the consent of the offender, commute the

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punishment for any other punishment provided by this code. The section 302 is punishment for
murder, whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or [imprisonment] for life, and
shall also be liable to fine. The section 303 is punishment for murder by life convict. Whoever,
being under sentence of [imprisonment] for life, commits murder, shall be punished with death.

Arguments

Third World Nation: Bangladesh is a third world nation. Peoples are not well manner as like
the first world nations. In spite of death penalty system in Bangladesh, number of illegal
activities like murder, rape, throwing acid, war crime, human trafficking we can see the daily
newspaper. If we were in first world nation, demolition of death penalty could be considered.

Unethical Activity Increases: If death penalty demolishes as capital punishment then corruption
will be increase day by day. Some white collars those who are financially capable, they will take
the illegal advantages from fine as capital punishment. Peoples will involve in crime and take the
mercy using the money power. We all know that money cannot be a solution of everything.
Money cannot be given back a life also cannot create an instance.

Injustice: Fine as a capital punishment will create the injustice and discrimination in society.
Financially stable peoples give the compensation to the victim parties but crime is not occurred
only by the rich peoples, poor peoples also related to the crime, so poor people cannot provide
the compensation. This system increases the social discrimination.

Judicial Norms lose the Importance Believes: Now a days everyone has faith on law. For any
kind of solution peoples go to the court and finally court give a proper solution. But fine as
capital punishment or only life imprisonment system will reduce the importance of judicial body.
Peoples will solve the most of the problem by using the money.

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Tough to Amendment of Constitution: Bangladeshi constitution is handmade constitution that
means written constitution. For the any kind of changes government has to face the lots of
problem. It will be very hassle and taught for government.

Expensive & Complicated to Create a New Law: Changing a law is very costly task for a
country. As we know that Bangladesh a is developing country, expensing lots of money for just a
law will not be beneficial.

Poor Democratic System: At present, Bangladesh exercise the poor democratic system. In that
situation decision of demolish of death penalty will not be fruitful. Including the peoples, press
movement day by day narrowing. So, victim party will be the sufferer.

Violation of Human Rights Increases: Though death penalty is one kind of violation of human
rights but it is tolerable. If the capital punishment system started peoples do not care the
punishment. Because they can take the mercy by using money. After all torture, murder, all types
of criminal activity will be increases. For that reasons human right violation will rapidly
increase.

Punishment Should be Creating Fear: Crime is everywhere. In our neighborhood, in the

neighboring state, wherever we look, we find criminals and crime. Criminals have become a part
of our daily lives. Does this mean we let them be the darkness of our society? No, definitely not.
Eliminating crime and criminals is our duty, and we cannot ignore it. Getting the right one to be
charged is just punishment. Some criminals commit a crime because they have no other option to
survive, but some do it for fun. I do not advocate death penalty for everybody. A person, who
stole bread from a grocery store, definitely doesn't deserve a death penalty. However, a serial
killer, who kills people for fun or his personal gain, definitely deserves the death penalty. Death
penalty should continue in order to eliminate the garbage of our society. Not everybody deserves
to die, but some people definitely do. I support the death penalty because of several reasons.

Punishment should Have loss Suffer and Pain: Capital punishment is the death penalty given
by the government of a country, to people who have committed hideous crimes like homicide,
rape, etc. Capital punishment has been a way of punishing people since ages. Although there are
some countries that have abolished death penalty from their law, there are still many which still
practice the act of killing a person for crime. Capital punishment is prevalent in the US, Asian

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 and Middle Eastern countries. Some of the ways of executing criminals are hanging, shooting,
electrocution and giving lethal injections. People have different opinions on the issue of capital
punishment given to a convict. While some think that death penalty is necessary for those who
have committed a terrible crime, there are others who consider it as an immoral act that goes
against the values of humanity.

Avoid Future Crime: This article introduces crime prevention, which often refers to the
attempts to prevent crime or criminal offending before the actual act has been committed. It
studies four main crime prevention strategies, namely developmental prevention, community
prevention, situational prevention, and criminal justice prevention. It provides an overview of the
key theories that support these strategies and notes some relevant research on effectiveness. This
article also considers the development of crime prevention in Bangladesh and identifies several
key issues that challenge the prevention of crime.

Equivalent to punishment: The principle of equality, that great tradition of Anglo-Indian

civilization, applies itself in the criminal law not only in a defendant's defense but also in his
prosecution and punishment. The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution proscribes equal protection under the law to every citizen of Bangladesh. It's in this
very spirit that a certain amount of equality is proscribed in the prosecution of like crimes, even
when individual justice and common sense might suggest otherwise. A simple example may
illustrate this point. A man and his wife are walking down an empty street at night, when
suddenly they're accosted by some roguish fellow with a long history of violent crime (let's call
him Barney) and asked to relinquish their wallets. Barney is not armed, but he's fairly large, and
intimidating enough without a weapon. When the couple hesitates, Barney moves as if to attack.
The husband, who watches a lot of action movies, grabs his pocketknife and without thinking
jabs it into Barney's neck, puncturing Barney's windpipe and causing him drown to death in his
own blood.

Threat for Young Generation: Drugs is a catastrophic Problem for our society and young
generation. Dealing, carrying the drugs is very serious crime in our country. There is a death
penalty system for dealing the drugs. Though the death penalty system active this problem day
by day turn into terrible situation. Now you think if death penalty system demolished what effect

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will be fall in drugs problem. So, demolition of death penalty will destroy our young generation
very soon.

Recommendation

To Create a Source of Money: There is some cost to execute the death penalty. So, government
should create a source of fund to maintain this type of cost. This source can be fine form
criminals, income tax of citizens.

To Trained the Hanger: Hanger who hanging the criminals in Bangladesh are not well trained.
Government should take some initiatives and arrange same training season for them.

Narrowing the political Intervention: Sometime in case of death penalty political person try to
misuse their power to stop the hanging. Government should take necessary steps to Stop this
illegal intervention.

Well Prepare the Hanging Stage: Hanging Stage in Bangladesh is not well decorated, quality
of hanging rope is very poor. By using low quality rope for the hanging is very taught for a
hanger.

To Arrange Hanging in Public Place: If hang a prisoner in public place, there will be create an
instance. People will abstain from doing that kind of offense.

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 Conclusion

Bangladesh government says that death penalty should be exist as instances punishment for
heinous crimes such as throwing acid, act of terrorism, planned murder, trafficking of drugs. It is
applying in extreme caution and compassion. It extended to ultimate cases where its realties to
gross violation of human right. Bangladesh has extremely law rate of implementation of death
penalty. Government should give an importance about that. Because people will be more aware
by hanging rather than the other punishment.

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 Bibliography

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Bangladesh

2. https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/Aazzaan/is-death-penalty-justified

3. https://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm?country=bangladesh

4. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment

5. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Bangladesh

6. Penal Code 1860, Act XLV

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