Capital punishment in South Africa: Was abolition the right decision?

Nov 22, 2016
It is now just over 21 years since the Constitutional Court abolished the death penalty. It did so at a time when opinion polls showed that most South Africans supported capital punishment. Although there is now little public debate on the issue, some people believe such abolition was a luxury South Africa could not afford. Others believe the death sentence should be reinstated and have asked the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) to review the question of capital punishment. This report was released in Johannesburg in November 2016.

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