THE mandatory death penalty should be abolished, however discretionary powers should be given to judges to decide on rare cases, said lawyer Ramkarpal Singh.

He said that this should only be done for new cases and the law must be defined and legislated and implemented with discretion.

“My view is that it (death penalty) must go, but the death penalty should be retained for new offences.

“The government should come out with a legislation to decide what the discretions are,” he said at a forum entitled “Abolition of the death penalty: Rationale and Implications”.

The Bukit Gelugor MP said he was not against vengeance, and more against recurrence of criminal acts.

“Rare cases are those where children are sexually abused and murdered, and recurring cases where the offender commits the same crimes,” he said.

De facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong had said that the death sentence would be scrapped for 33 offences, but no bill to that effect has been tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

Lawyer Ambiga said that she did not think that discretionary powers should be given for the death penalty.

“I don’t think we can allow for the rarest of cases to hold back the bill being passed.

“This is going to be one of the most important milestones in abolishing the death penalty.

Ambiga said that the government should push to abolish it as promised in the Pakatan Harapan manifesto.

She said 2,081 convicts are currently on death row. 

“As lawyers, we should have the rationale that the death penalty should be abolished in total. Murder is unlawful killing, and the death penalty is lawful killing.

“The eye-for-an-eye concept is archaic. It’s violence against violence. They are no different to me.”

Ambiga said that the death penalty does not reduce crime, and 142 countries have abolished or repealed it. 

“We are all angry when a murder happens, but revenge cannot be the basis for action.

“The death penalty has not deterred crime. There are still murders and drug-related crimes.”

Ambiga said that the government should instead focus on effective policing. – December 4, 2018.