Opinion

SA should change sentencing guidelines to ensure life means life

The sentencing this week of sex trafficker and child rapist Gerhard Ackerman to 12 terms of life imprisonment has – despite the apparent harsh nature of the sentence – reopened the debate on whether the death penalty is needed for such bestial crimes.

There are two issues which worry those who think this is a good case for bringing back capital punishment – something which is outlawed in our constitution.

Firstly, even a harsh sentence like the one handed down to Ackerman is unlikely to either reform him or deter others from committing similar offences. Jail time doesn’t seem a deterrent because this country has a high rate of repeat offenders.

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Apart from this recidivism, the other reality is that, in South Africa, we do not have sentencing guidelines as other countries do, which stipulate that life sentences are exactly that – without any possibility of parole.

And our parole system is clearly open to abuse – unless we accept that somebody like Schabir Shaik miraculously recovered from his life-threatening illness after being set free on parole in March 2009.

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Proponents of a return to capital punishment will cite these factors in support of their argument that a death sentence will be a much more effective deterrent than our current “get out of jail free” parole system.

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However, against that is the fact that an execution is nothing more than legalised murder – and this country is trying to build a society on the blood of 300 years of colonialism and apartheid, where judicial killing was used to maintain the status quo.

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The death penalty is also, if looked at in basic terms, an act of revenge and, while the families of victims may want this, is it up to society as a whole to sanction the killing of human beings?

We should rather change our sentencing guidelines to ensure life means life.

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By Editorial staff
Read more on these topics: Crimelife sentenceMurder