EDITORIAL - Death penalty

Is the restoration of capital punishment the solution to the increasing cases of heinous crimes in the country? For three police officials in Cebu, it is one way of preventing the commission of serious criminal acts.

Cebu City Police Office Director Royina Garma, Cebu Provincial Police Office spokesman Eloveo Marquez, and Mandaue City Police Office Director Julian Entoma all agree that reinstating death penalty will deter crimes.

Garma said death penalty “gives importance to the life that has been taken.” For her, it is an effective tool in the fight against crime. She explained that a capital punishment verdict does not automatically send the convict to the gallows as he can always appeal his conviction up to the Supreme Court.

According to Marquez, the government should have allowed the death penalty to stay. He said the elimination of death penalty paved the way for evil to thrive and that since the country does not possess the means to counter major crimes, “we seem to be breeding demons.”

Based on his experience, Entoma said instead of living a new life, some convicted and jailed criminals have become even tougher outside after they complete their sentence or after they have been pardoned.

Of course, death penalty can never deter crimes. The reason why the country decided to stop it was that, despite its implementation, murders, rapes, drug trafficking, bank robberies, among other gruesome crimes, were still sweeping across the country.

But let’s face it. Although it cannot really prevent crimes, at least the death penalty can cause criminals to think twice before they pull off their trade, something that has been proven during its implementation.

The only problem is that the law has never been consistent during its run, since every time a death row inmate is scheduled for lethal injection, religious and human rights organizations immediately step in.

Had the capital punishment been aggressively applied to death row convicts, it would have sent shivers down the spine of those criminals because an arrest and conviction would surely mean certain death.