THE police are the appropriate authority when it comes to dealing with the criminal mind.

Part of the psychological warfare that is ingrained into the war against crime is the death sentence. It has its required effect during the initial stages of evidence gathering, specifically during interviews of witnesses and interrogation of suspects.

It is also a crucial calming factor for the psychological difficulty for both the investigator and the families of such heinous crimes especially during the initial stage of investigations, when families are in trauma during and after a commission of such serious offences.

More so when they are first informed, or when they first witness or survive such brutal offences, notwithstanding the stress witnesses are put through during proceedings.

In fact, there is an array of different limbs in the Penal Code and relevant Acts in most definitions of major crimes that assist investigators during the initial stage of investigations into serious crimes.

The stringent definitions by itself, apart from trite law, act as natural check and balances to any such conviction. The actual number of such convictions are low in terms of statistical percentage.

The death penalty plays a significant role in the said psywar in dealing with these dangerous criminals. It allows some leverage to procure intelligence and admissible evidence when dealing with such hardcore criminals.

These are part of the tools of investigation that are at the disposal of a good and experienced investigator. It is applied with appropriate force within the ambits of the rule of law.

Having dealt with serious crime offenders both during proceedings and in serious crimes investigations, it is opined that the death penalty should stay.

It is still relevant when we deal with criminals who are sadistically and mutantly brutal during the commission of serious crimes.

Although the argument for the abolishment of the death penalty has its merits from the human rights perspective, it is not prudent for us to completely remove it from our criminal justice system.

It is more practical to have it as a possible option rather than eliminating it completely. Some of the extremely dangerous criminal minds are beyond comprehension and belief and normally, only the serious crime investigators are exposed to these traits.

These dangerous species walk amongst us and their DNA to inflict unbelievable bodily harm is extreme and the death penalty is the only appropriate sentence.

Laws, however, can be amended to giving discretionary powers to the judiciary, moving away from some offences that carry a mandatory sentence. That will be the humane compromise. – February 9, 2019.

* G. Selva reads The Malaysian Insight.