Three men sentenced to death for Mumbai gang rapes

[Jesus Malverde]

Three men were sentenced to death on Friday for two gang-rapes last year in Mumbai, including an attack on a photojournalist that sparked protests and raised fresh questions about attitudes to women in the world’s largest democracy.

A Mumbai court on Friday sentenced Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Mohammed Salim Ansari to death.

“This is the first case in India in which the death penalty has been given to convicts while the victim is alive,” special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters outside the court. “There was no chance of reformation in these men.”

Judge Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi said that the offence was diabolical in nature and that this would send a strong message to society.

http://www.france24.com/en/20140404-india-death-penalty-gang-rapes-mumbai/

[JI7]

1. i can't bring myself to give a shit

even though i oppose the death penalty .

[BainsBane]

2. agreed

[watchingoveryou]

3. Wow

I wouldn't want to see this in our country so I won't cheer for this.
I am adamantly against any state taking a life for punishment .

[Donald Ian Rankin]

4. Will it make much difference?

My belief (although I can't quote a source for this off the top of my head) is that the deterrent effect of punishment has much less to do with severity than with likelihood.

If so, if you're only punishing a small fraction of criminals, it won't deter strongly, even if the punishment is severe.

And I believe the conviction rate for rapists in India (and elsewhere) is very low.

Incidentally, for the record, I'm against this - I'm not convinced they don't deserve it, but I *am* convinced that if a fallible state executes anyone, ever, then it will sometimes get it wrong and execute people who don't deserve it, and I don't think that's a price worth paying.