3. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has overturned 85 percent of death sentences
On the
basis of faulty investigations and evidence, 467 condemned inmates were acquitted or had their death sentences commuted, out of the 546 murder cases heard by a Supreme Court bench since 2014.
While a majority of Pakistan’s death row comprises people accused of murder and related crimes, Pakistan continues to sentence and execute
people for crimes that do not cause death.
4. Despite a 35 percent reduction, Pakistan accounts for 26 percent of the world’s death row population
According to official
government figures of 2012, Pakistan’s death row stood at 7,164, Since 2013, Pakistan has sentenced at least 1,692 people to death while 496 people have been executed since 2014.
This means Pakistan’s death row should have had a net increase of almost 1,200 to total about 8,400.
However,
the federal ombudsperson submitted before the Supreme Court that Pakistan’s death row population now stands at 4,688. This indicates a drop of 2,476 prisoners.
Despite this surprising reduction in the official number of Pakistan’s condemned prisoners, it is worth noting that Pakistan continues to add
prisoners to its death row; the second largest in the world at an average of 351 death sentence annually since 2004.
5. Punjab accounts for 81% of the 496 executions since 2014
Despite a
decrease in the death row population from 6,604 to 3,890, Punjab accounts for 81 percent of executions and 89 percent of death sentences awarded countrywide.
Other provinces have seen their death row increase at a steady pace.
6. Civil disputes dominate murder cases
An analysis of 150 executions from 2015 indicates that
civil disputes are a dominant factor leading to homicides in Pakistan. The extraordinary delays (often lasting decades) in resolving such conflicts in the civil courts of Pakistan means that the likelihood of violence as a means of extralegal settlement among
contesting parties is very high.
7.
There’s a strong correlation between economic inequality, political violence, and murder rates
An overview of the past two decades of per-capita
GDP growth, terrorism and homicide rates demonstrate a strong correlation between economic and political factors.
In years where the growth rate
of the per-capita GDP is less than 2 percent, the homicide rates tend to be 7.5 murders per 100,000 or above while it is generally lower in years with a higher percentage growth.
It also indicates that the years marred with political violence and instability also had a higher murder rate.
8. Recommendations by JPP report
- Reduce the scope
of the death penalty by excluding non-lethal crimes.
- Judicial academies must train newly appointed trial court Judges on use and application of
the death penalty in line with “the most serious” offenses standard.
- Trial and sentencing proceedings must be bifurcated to determine
a) whether the defendant has committed the crime b) what is the appropriate punishment.
- Reform the method of adjudicating civil disputes to decrease
the length of time it takes to resolve them.
- Constitute a committee to review mercy petitions comprising representatives from respective ministries
to reduce the number of wrongful executions.
04 Oct 2018/Thursday
Source: Dawn
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