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Lidovky.cz

Death penalty has qualified support

  8:17

Almost two-thirds of  Czechs favor reintroducing the death penalty, but many would like to see judicial reforms first.

Two-thirds of Czechs favor the death penalty, which was abolished from Czechoslovakia in 1990. A poll by Sanep.cz, an online opinion research center, showed 47 percent strongly favored and 18.5 percent rather favored the death penalty for the most serious crimes. Combined support adds up to 65.5 percent.

There were some caveats, however. Not all of those in favor would like to see an immediate reintroduction of capital punishment. A slim majority of all respondents said that the current legal system was not ready yet for the death penalty to be reintroduced.

Support for the death penalty

 

Some 52 percent said “no” or “moderately no” to the idea that the legal system operated at a high enough level. Only 37.3 percent strongly or moderately felt the legal system was ready. The remaining 10.7 percent had no opinion.

“There are obvious concerns about the possible misuse of capital punishment, which the courts of the Communist regime abused to dispose of people inconvenient to the political order,” the survey summary said, pointing out that there were also current concerns about a “judicial mafia” operating in the courts. The death penalty can be exercised only in a legal environment where there is no doubt about a fair and mature judicial system,” the summary said. The main reason for support of the death penalty is that people see it as a deterrent against crime.

The main reason for support of the death penalty is that people see it as a deterrent against crime. Of all respondents, 60.7 percent voiced support for the idea that it reduces crime, while only 32.2 said it did not.

Human rights organizations, however, claim that the death penalty is not effective as a deterrent. “Evidence from around the world has shown that the death penalty has no unique deterrent effect on crime. Many people have argued that abolishing the death penalty leads to higher crime rates, but studies in the USA and Canada, for instance, do not back this up. … . State sanctioned killing only serves to endorse the use of force and to continue the cycle of violence,” Amnesty International said in information provided to Czech Position.

“Once criminals have knowingly committed a capital offense, they no longer have any interest in lessening their potential punishment by not committing further murders or other offenses. For example, if armed robbery carries the death penalty, the robber loses nothing by committing murders while attempting to flee,” Amnesty International said.

As for the death penalty being inhumane, a scant 26.4 percent agreed with this assessment, while 61.9 percent disagreed. The authors of the survey found this to be surprising. “This view is in conflict with the global trend that seeks to end [the death penalty], precisely because of its inhumanity,” the survey said.

Soft on crime

The root of the high level of support can possibly be found in some 81.2 percent of respondents saying that the current penal code offers inadequate penalties for crimes, while just 12.5 percent found it adequate.

But even life sentences are seen as inadequate punishment. A total of 63.8 percent of respondents said “no” or “moderately no” when asked whether life imprisonment was sufficient for the most serious crimes. Some 31.6 percent felt that it was sufficient.

The top crimes that people would like to see the death penalty for include child murder, contract murder, terrorism and sexually motivated murder.

The support for the death penalty is not new. Data from polling agency Public Opinion Research Center (CVVM) of the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences showed that 62 percent of Czechs supported the death penalty in 2009 and 2008, while 58 percent supported it in 2007.

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