The news that the government has finally decided to recommence executions, which has been long overdue, would be welcomed by all law abiding citizens of this country. There may be a few misguided but well meaning persons who fear that an innocent man could be hanged, but we could ensure that such a miscarriage of justice does not take place by having at least three Judges of the Supreme Court study the record of the cases to make absolutely certain that there would be no miscarriage of justice.

"Bring back the hangman", has been the cry not only from Angulana but from the four corners of Sri Lanka for the people believe that the horrendous increase in grave crime that has enveloped our country cannot be countered without such a deterrent. Whatever the ‘pious’ amongst us may say, capital punishment has always acted as a deterrent and we the people demand of the government that it recommence executions, starting with the hanging of those responsible for the murder of Judge Sarath Ambepitiya. We next have those who were responsible for the brutal killing of a whole family in Hokandara, and those who raped a young woman whilst they knifed to death the whole Hamer family at Frazer Avenue in Dehiwela. There have been a number of such gruesome murders even of teenage girls who have been raped and murdered in recent times, the most recent being the rape and murder of a young woman who had been orphaned at the age of seven, Lakmini Kumari in Kamburupitiya over the weekend. Do these murderers who took the lives of innocent people not deserve to die?

Today we have a new and frightening development with the Police taking the law into their hands and arranging fake encounters for the purpose of carrying out executions. Should not these murderers also be tried and put to death after a judicial process? I ask the ‘pious’ what if we had captured Prabhakaran alive? Did he not deserve to die at the gallows? Saddam was hanged for less by the Americans and the West.

There is today no question in this country that we should recommence executions. The issue has certainly come to a head with the mindless killings of innocent citizens by criminals who do not appear to think twice about depriving people of their lives for they know that they can live, though they have deprived others of their lives. They live happily with only their movements curtailed in prison in the hope that they could benefit from an amnesty or receive a pardon and live their own lives till the end.

We need of course to guard against wrongful executions particularly because our Justice system with the Police in particular being corrupt. Before any decision to execute a murderer three Judges of the Supreme Court should be required to certify that there would be absolutely no miscarriage of justice if the man is hanged.

Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the killing of a person by judicial process as retribution, it is considered a deterrence, which brings us to the matter of listing the different forms of execution: there is Decapitation, Electrocution, the Firing squad, the Gas chamber, Hanging, the Lethal injection, and Stoning. It has been medically proved that hanging is more humane than any of the other methods. The term ‘Capital’ incidentally originates from Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (Latin caput). Hence, a capital crime was originally one punished by the severing of the head. We do not need to have any qualms about carrying out executions as Capital punishment has been practiced in virtually every society, and thus can be considered to be almost universal or close to it. Capital punishment is meted out in countries where more than 60% of the world’s population live. The four most populous countries in the world (the People’s Republic of China, India, United States and Indonesia) apply the death penalty and are unlikely to abolish it. Forty five countries today retain the death penalty.

Imprisonment is not for murderers. There are three purposes for prisons. Firstly, prison separates criminals from the general population. Second, prison is a form of punishment. Finally, prison is expected to rehabilitate prisoners; so that when prisoners are released from prison, these ex-convicts are less likely to repeat their crimes and risk another prison sentence. The logic for capital punishment is that prisons are for rehabilitating convicts who will eventually leave prison, and therefore prison is not for people who would never be released from prisons alive.

Further the cost of imprisoning someone for life is much more expensive than executing that same person. Capital punishment is truly cost effective when compared with the cost of life imprisonment

There is also the matter of the safety, for criminals who receive the death penalty are typically violent individuals. Therefore for the safety of the general public (in case a death row inmate escapes prison), then logic dictates that safety is a reason for capital punishment.

There is also no question that capital punishment deters Crime. Take the statistic before and after Capital punishment was suspended and the figures speak for themselves. There is also the experience of Singapore and Malaysia to go by. There is proof that nations with capital punishment have a lower rate of crime, therefore the death penalty does deter crime. It is indeed logical that the more severe the crime, then the more severe the punishment should be. But what is the most severe punishment: lifetime in prison or execution. There is no question that it should be execution. It is indeed the most appropriate punishment for it is equal to the crime committed. Therefore using this logic, the appropriate punishment for murder is death.