Journal of Law and Criminal Justice

Arbitrariness in Capital Sentencing System: No Disappearance of Furman-Like Challenge
Dr. Arvind P. Bhanu

Abstract
Even after Bachan Singh, the death penalty system has failed to erase the element of arbitrariness completely. From awarding to execution, the death penalty system has time and again been mechanized but the discriminatory treatment has been found on many occasions. The issue herewith is not of abolishment or retention of the capital punishment, but to trace out the situation where the death penalty system can be put on the wheels which can stop if there is a place of arbitrariness. Before four decades, in America the same challenge was meted out in Furman but it is still persists there too. It indicates that the efforts to eliminate the discriminatory element in the system have remained in vain. Can someone expect death penalty administration system free from all arbitrariness? is a question to be calculated. Both the systems are still making efforts to evolve a line whereupon the capital sentencing system can be administered equally. Is it a valid argument that the reliance should be made on long development and it should be presumed that it is not possible that death can be sent through the non-arbitrary dimensions? Here, the issue is required to be seen in comparative manner with a view to take down the developments and evaluate the perspectives of the death. The helpless conclusion adhered by many jurists that there is no option other than that of the death permanently be invalidated not on the grounds of moral philosophy but on the Constitutional justifications is finding place or not, is among other issues, this paper wants to evaluate.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jlcj.v2n2a11