From the Readers

Capital punishment no use to reduce crimes

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-04-29 17:24

Comment on "Death to the death sentence" (China Daily, April 28)

I always thought the purpose of the legal system was to prevent future crimes by harshly punishing current or recent crimes, or am I wrong about that? As far as I can tell, the deaths of a few corrupt officials, embezzlers and drug traffickers seem to have done nothing in the way of actually reducing such crimes. So, in my opinion, it's pretty clear that SOMETHING needs to change.

There are two points I feel that resound beyond such questions, and they are:

1) Enacting the death penalty in a humane, sanitary and respectful manner often costs more than imprisoning a person for the entire course of their natural life (at least, this is how it is in the U.S., I'm not sure about how this works in China); and

2) The punishment should fit the crime.

On the first point, it seems to me that if this is the case, it is completely backwards to spend MORE money on executing these people so that, even in death, they continue to cost society more and more money, effectively exacerbating their crime.

On the second point, since these people have done such a disservice to society, doesn't it make more sense to ask them to do a good service for society? These people could share the story not only of their crime, but of their incarceration as well, which could help to actually deter future crimes by realistically narrating the ramifications of their crimes. Dead men tell no tales, and thus they can in no way serve the greater public and future generations by warning them of the pitfalls of playing on the wrong side of the law.

Also, as somewhat of a side note, since it is pure speculation on my part, doesn't the death penalty simply free these criminals from the embarrassment of their crime? It seems that most people here would rather die than lose face, so why are we deferring to their preference? What worse punishment can there be than to live in disgrace?

Matt Smith, on China Daily Website