Is There a Case for Capital Punishment for Rapists?

Gender bias in our society is beyond contest and it starts right at homes, not necessarily in poor but also in the rich and mighty. While we know how and why it happens, it is important to consider the psychological origin and fall out of this bias. Humans are social animals or in other words animals that live within the social norms. For all those who watch animal kingdom would know that the male species often enforce their dominance by subjugating the female counterparts and the best display of subjugation is having sex - consensual or otherwise. This is nature and no one has taught this to the animals. Thus, the behavior of man towards women is not really strange, as he is part of the animal kingdom. However, it is the ‘social norms’ which compel him to behave more soberly than animals in Jungle or otherwise. India being a patriarchal society has always preached inferior status for women and thus the social norm itself is at odds with women’s cause. Obviously enough, man is behaving like true animal as the shackles of society is either missing or weak.

A simple fact is, if mankind had a choice they would enjoy behaving this way in the open because that is their true nature. In the absence of strong social norms, the other alternative could be fear of law which can hold them back. However, over the years, flawed investigation and prosecution have sent a loud and clear message that one can easily get away in this country. The fact that every 22 minutes a woman is raped and the conviction rate is just about 0.1% says it all. Therefore, the social norms on the one hand are weak and the law has failed the women miserably - no wonder the monstrous behavior is getting encouraged.

While one may shoo away any examples from the Arab world, it is important to understand the underlying belief behind such harsh punishments executed in public. While the urge for dominance over women may be involuntary, the method of gratifying this urge is always voluntary and voluntary behaviors can only be modified using Operant or Instrumental conditioning. In this type of learning an individual's behavior is modified by its consequences. Depending upon the consequences; the behavior may change in form, frequency, or strength. Obviously so, the consequences of rape or any crime in the Arab world, are very harsh and this deterrent causes operant conditioning of voluntary behavior. The law has in place ‘life imprisonment’ for rape in our country. But how many have so far been convicted? We may have death penalty for rape but unless the conviction rate goes up and justice is meted out quickly, the desired conditioning effect on the society will not take place and it may instead act as positive reinforcement of such behavior and the crime rate will go up.

Therefore, the case is not as much in favor of death penalty Vs life sentence, it is actually about fast trial and high conviction rate. Firstly, such offence must be made non bailable and the police must crack down and file charge sheet on a time bound manner. Since behavior of police is also a big question mark and needs conditioning by consequences, a stringent code of conduct must be put in place and all erring cops must be discharged from service. The judiciary must also be held accountable. There must be fast track courts and a time frame for delivering justice. Finally, in such cases severe punishments, not necessarily death, must be meted out more liberally so as to have conditioning effect on the society at large.