Zimbabwe’s Death Penalty To Go

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa says that it is the intention of his government to get rid of the death penalty.

He made this statements speaking at the International Day Against the Death Penalty in Harare.

The new constitution has abolished the death penalty for women and for men below the age of 21 or over the age of 70.

It seems the intention is to remove it altogether.

Mnangagwa says that as someone who was sentenced to death once but survived on a technicality, he felt particularly passionate about the issue.

The death penalty has often given rise to strong debate on the mater.

Those who support believe in the fact that people convicted of heinous crimes while those against it argue that the state does not have the right to take life. There is also a feeling that handing out of capital punishment works a lot against the poor while the rich are  able to escape it.

There are also concerns about the finality of death while some will argue about closure being given to the family of the deceased. While some say it deters crime, there are schools of thought who insist that there is no evidence that this is true.

Some will also argue that people have been found guilty and sentenced to death only for evidence later to prove that they were not guilty in the first place.

What do you think? Should the death penalty be abolished?

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