⚖️ DEATH AS DETERRENCE OR DARKNESS?

Theme & Tags:
🩸 Capital Punishment, Human Rights, International Relations
📘 Category: Constitution | GS Paper 2

🥀 Opening Whisper

Where law becomes the handmaiden of fear, even justice begins to bleed.

When Justice Is Blindfolded With Fire

“In silence and rope, some nations tie their truth.”🕯️

🧷 Key Highlights

• Report Released By: Amnesty International – Death Sentences and Executions 2024
• Global Executions:
  • 1,518 executions in 2024 (📈 up 32% from 2023)
  • Highest in nearly a decade (since 2015)
  • Top 3 countries: Iran (972+), Saudi Arabia (345+), Iraq (63+)
• Geopolitical Usage:
  • 91% of known executions occurred in just 3 countries
  • Used to suppress dissent, especially among:
    • Protesters (e.g. Women, Life, Freedom protests in Iran)
    • Minorities (e.g. Shiites in Saudi Arabia)
• Hidden Toll:
  • Report excludes thousands believed executed in China, North Korea, Vietnam due to lack of transparency
• Drug-Related Executions:
  • 40% of all global executions in 2024
  • Carried out mostly in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Singapore
  • Violates international law, which restricts capital punishment to “most serious crimes”
• Mental Disability Violations:
  • Executions of individuals with mental disabilities reported in Iran – a breach of basic human rights norms
• Global Abolition Trends:
  • Only 15 countries carried out executions in 2024 – lowest on record
  • 145 nations have abolished the death penalty in law or practice
  • Zimbabwe abolished it for ordinary crimes
  • UN General Assembly advocates moratorium on executions

📚 GS Mains Mapping

• GS Paper 2
  • Issues Relating to Human Rights
  • Judiciary and Legal Systems
  • Role of International Organisations (Amnesty, UN)
  • Comparison of Legal Systems Globally
  • Ethics & Governance in International Relations

🕊️ A Thought Spark — by IAS Monk

When the gavel becomes an echo of vengeance, the courtroom forgets it was once a place of balance.

⚰️ Closing Whisper

True justice does not shout from gallows — it listens in the hush of dignity restored.