His Holiness Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Uganda in November 2015. One thing most Ugandans do not know about him is that he supports the abolition of the death penalty. On March 20, His Holiness wrote a letter to the International Commission against the Death Penalty (ICDP) on the matter. As an individual who supports the abolition of the death penalty, I wanted to highlight some of the arguments His Holiness put forward in the letter.
In his letter to the ICDP, His Holiness argued that the death penalty undermines the purpose of punishment. Punishment has five purposes namely: retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, reconciliation and restorative justice. The death penalty solely serves a purpose of retribution as vengeance for the crime that was committed and undermines the wholesome purpose of punishment. As His Holiness rightly states, "It does not render justice to the victims, but rather foments revenge". If the death penalty is replaced with long-term imprisonment, the offender is able to appreciate the wholesome purpose of punishment by participating in the rehabilitative, reconciliation and restorative aspect. With regard to the second purpose - deterrence - proponents of the death penalty have often argued that the death penalty deters crime. There has, however, been no empirical evidence to support this argument. In 2009, Micheal L. Radelet and Traci L. Lacock published the results of their study that revealed; 88 per cent of leading criminologists believed that the death penalty does not have a greater deterrent effect than long-term imprisonment.
Our lawmakers should, therefore, consider replacing the death penalty with long-term imprisonment. Imposition of the death penalty negates the other three purposes of punishment - rehabilitation, reconciliation and restorative justice. Indeed, punishment in Uganda has traditionally focused on retribution and deterrence. More emphasis should be put on rehabilitation, reconciliation and restorative justice. Read more
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