MADRAS, India -- India is once again hotly debating capital punishment. This time the discussion has been provoked by the death sentence given to Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old schoolgirl. Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has stayed Chatterjee's hanging and is examining a clemency petition from his family.
In the meantime, there is intense debate in the media over the relevance of the death penalty. While some influential members of the government and public argue that Chatterjee deserves no mercy and that his sentence should not be commuted to one of life, others feel that this form of punishment negates the very idea of reforming a criminal.
The latter group's point of view is gaining ground, and not just in India. Amnesty International's latest information shows that 80 countries have abolished capital punishment for all crimes; 15 nations have done away with it for all but exceptionally brutal crimes, such as wartime atrocities; and 23 countries are "abolitionist," retaining the death penalty in law but not having carried out executions for the past 10 years or more.