On 3 January 2014, the CSH launched its Lecture Series with Dr Surya Deva's presentation: "Controlling Crime by (Not) Executing People: Does India Need Capital Punishment?". Heexamined whether the current practice of administering capital punishment in India serves any deterrent purpose in controlling crime.

Dr Surya Deva is an Associate Professor at the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong. His primary research interests lie in Business and Human Rights, Corporate Social Responsibility, Indo-Chinese Constitutional Law, International Human Rights, Globalisation, and Sustainable Development. Surya's recent books include Human Rights Obligations of Business: Beyond the Corporate Responsibility to Respect? (co-edited with David Bilchitz) (Cambridge University Press, 2013); Confronting Capital Punishment in Asia: Human Rights, Politics, Public Opinion and Practices (co-edited with Roger Hood) (Oxford University Press, 2013); and Regulating Corporate Human Rights Violations: Humanizing Business (Routledge, 2012).

Controlling Crime by (Not) Executing People: Does India Need Capital Punishment? by Prof. Surya  Deva

Abstract

This seminar will examine whether the current practice of administering capital punishment in India serves any deterrent purpose in controlling crime. It will consider this issue with special reference to three sets of crimes: murder, rape, and terrorist attacks. By employing a number of factors (e.g., pitfalls of criminal justice system, arbitrariness in judicial process, politics over disposing mercy petitions, and the practice of selective sporadic executions), an attempt will be made to show that capital punishment in India can hardly be regarded as an effective tool to control crime. India should therefore move towards abolishing capital punishment. While doing so is unlikely to spike the crime rate, an abolitionist India can reap several benefits at the international level. The seminar will conclude by considering a few strategies that should be tried to achieve the goal of abolishing the death penalty in India.

Bio

Dr Surya Deva is an Associate Professor at the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong. His primary research interests lie in Business and Human Rights, Corporate Social Responsibility, Indo-Chinese Constitutional Law, International Human Rights, Globalisation, and Sustainable Development. He has published widely in these areas. Surya's recent books include Human Rights Obligations of Business: Beyond the Corporate Responsibility to Respect? (Co-edited with David Bilchitz) (Cambridge University Press, 2013); Confronting Capital Punishment in Asia: Human Rights, Politics, Public Opinion and Practices (co-edited with Roger Hood) (Oxford University Press, 2013); and Regulating Corporate Human Rights Violations: Humanizing Business (Routledge, 2012). Surya has also prepared two major reports on Access to Justice: Human Rights Abuses Involving Corporations (concerning India and China) for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Geneva. He is the Founding Faculty Editor of the City University of Hong Kong Law Review, and sits on the Editorial Board of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights and the Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law.