The Question of Capital Punishment
On Sunday, January 11th, Indonesian authorities executed six people, including five foreign nationals, for drug offenses. The event signified a distinct shift in Indonesian policy and incited a diplomatic clash. Those among the executed included citizens from Brazil, the Netherlands, Malawi, Vietnam, and Nigeria. Brazil and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors to Indonesia in response to failed diplomacy efforts and clemency requests. The international community reacted to the executions with widespread condemnation. The executions were the firsts under Indonesia’s recently elected president, Joko Widodo. The president’s platform focused on social welfare, particularly education and healthcare. Widodo enjoys popularity among the people, who see him as a rare example of a clean politician and a man of the people. His humble background as a furniture exporter is a break from the military and political elite who preceded him. Although he campaigned as a reformer, Widodo is a supporter of the death penalty- and publicly so. Last December, he declared his intentions to refuse 64 clemency appeals from drug offenders on death row. Widodo’s harsh stance is a shift for Indonesia. After four years, the nation resumed executions in 2013; however, no executions were carried out in 2014.
The shift is part of an effort to crack down on the drug trade in Indonesia. Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo has expressed hopes that the harsh measures “will have a deterrent effect” on drug dealers. Yet the approach seems to have little effect in either Indonesia or in Southeast Asia as a whole; in fact, drug use has been on the rise in Indonesia. The trend could be related to a number of changes including its relatively recent democratization in 1998 and the growth of its middle class, which enjoys greater purchasing power. As a result, Indonesia has evolved into both a transit and a destination country for drugs, particularly methamphetamine and cannabis.
Indonesia is not alone in retaining the death penalty, although execution for drug offenses does place it among the more severe. According to Amnesty International, there are 140 total abolitionist nations in law or practice and 58 retentionist nations worldwide. While there remain a significant number of states that retain capital punishment, the general worldwide trend is toward abolition. In 2007 and 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted two resolutions calling for a general suspension of capital punishment worldwide. The resolutions do not constitute a binding agreement between member-states; however, they reflect the upward trend of abolition in the international community. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, on the other hand, does bind the member-states of the European Union. The Charter specifies in Article 2, “No one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed.”
The countries with the highest number of executions include China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. China executes more people than the rest of the world combined, but the exact number is unknown because the data is classified. However, there have been slow changes toward curtailing the death penalty. Nine nonviolent crimes will likely be removed from the list of crimes punishable by capital punishment according to a recent government announcement. This could also be attributed shifting public opinion in China. In 1995, 95% of Chinese supported capital punishment; by 2008, the percentage decreased to 67%.
The United States has been, and still is, the only G7 nation that practices capital punishment. Yet the murder rate in the U.S. greatly exceeds that of the abolitionist European Union. Seeing this inconsistency, considerations like cost, mental illness cases, racial bias, and false convictions have become the driving forces behind the movement for an end to state-sponsored death. 80% of Americans supported the death penalty in 1994 compared to 60% in 2013. Executions themselves are on the decline; in 1999, 98 executions were carried out; in 2013, that number decreased to 39. While the nation at large remains behind, individual states have ended the practice, including Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
Indonesia therefore finds itself under strong international pressure to reverse its decision to reinstate the death penalty, particularly when the offenders belong to abolitionist nations. Nevertheless, Prasetyo warned that another round of executions would be held later this year to target drug smugglers. It seems that Indonesia is set to join the list of retentionist nations on the wrong side of the worldwide trend.