The death penalty is often justified as a tool to ‘keep the public safe’, to ‘protect us from violent harm’.

Yet, the death penalty DISPROPORTIONATELY affects individuals who are most VULNERABLE.

THREAD:

Amnesty International’s 2019 research on the death penalty in Malaysia, ‘Fatally Flawed’ found that migrants (especially migrant women), ethnic minorities, and low-income earners cumulatively make up almost all death row inmates: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/act50/1078/2019/en/

The intersection of gender-class-migration status is most visible when we consider that as of Feb 2019, 73% of individuals on death row were sentenced for drug-related offences, while 95% of migrant women on death row were convicted of ‘drug trafficking’.

Many of those on death row were convicted despite transporting only a small amount of drugs and were often just drug couriers who were lured or forced into doing it by family members or acquaintances, or because of their lack of financial means.

Women particularly fell victim to this coercion. In most of the cases reviewed by Amnesty International, the women were not even aware that they were carrying illicit drugs, with many of them being arrested as they were entering the country.

44% of individuals sentenced to death were either considered unemployed or labourers. The difficulty for those of less advantaged socio-economic background to find and retain competent legal counsel significantly lowers their chances of successfully arguing their case in court.

Under Malaysian law, free legal counsel is only provided at the trial. The lack of a lawyer at the time of arrest and police questioning means that suspects have no guidance on how to avoid self-incrimination.

The death penalty doesn’t address the root cause of why people commit crimes: structural discrimination; generational poverty; lack of opportunities and support systems are some reasons why individuals engage in criminal acts. Justice needs to be holistic, not rooted in revenge.

Obstacles to accessing justice is worse for foreign nationals who have less access to legal counsel, and don’t have a good grasp of the national language. Migrants on death row have said that they were told by the police to sign documents in BM, and in the absence of a lawyer.

Foreign embassies are often only informed that their citizens are arrested 24 hrs or even days later. By then, chances are high that the arrested suspect has already made self-incriminating statements (because of language barriers/no legal rep) or signed confessions under duress.

Moreover, if the suspect belongs to a persecuted ethnic minority in their country of origin, they receive little support. Refugees and stateless people are particularly vulnerable in this regard.

The implementation of the death penalty therefore is often hinged on pre-existing vulnerabilities, disproportionately affecting those already discriminated against.

Malaysian ethnic minorities are also over-represented on death row. For example, 25% of death row inmates are Indian despite only making up 7% of the Malaysian population. The intersection of these factors creates a chilling picture as to how the death penalty is enforced.

The death penalty doesn’t serve to protect society, nor does it uphold justice. It punishes individuals already marginalised because of class, gender, race, immigration status. We need to work towards a vision of justice, not revenge. Malaysia must abolish the death penalty.