I doubt the efficacy of capital punishment as a means of deterring crime: British High Commissioner

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Robbie Bulloch has said that recently, there have been calls in both Sri Lanka and the Maldives for the reintroduction of the death penalty, and that he personally doubts the efficacy of capital punishment as a means of deterring crime.

In an article published on the UK Foreign Office website yesterday, Bulloch said that he was saddened by the execution of the Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek in Saudi Arabia last week. He said that Sri Lanka and the Maldives supported the previous UN motion on a moratorium on death penalty in 2010, but both countries chose to abstain this time.

“Although both Sri Lanka and the Maldives have legislative provision for imposing the death penalty, neither country has carried out judicial executions for some time (since 1976 in Sri Lanka and 1953 in Maldives). But in both countries there have been recent calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty to help combat some of the more serious crimes. As someone who has worked with very serious offenders in previous jobs, I personally doubt the efficacy of capital punishment as a means of deterring crime and the research I have seen this bears this out.”