Jonny Steinberg, an opponent of capital punishment...

Jonny Steinberg, an opponent of capital punishment and a consultant at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation wrote about capital punishment in South Africa. He stated that five years had passed since the Constitutional Court removed capital punishment from the statute books. Removed from the books, not abolished, because no honest person could claim that the death penalty in SA was abolished in 1995. He also said there was little doubt that the abolition of the death penalty was not only the most unpopular decision the court had made: it had become a symbol for all that is despised about the constitution and a rallying point for all who oppose it. Steinberg added that for the many whites who feel covert nostalgia for the old days, the end of capital punishment symbolizes everything they believe is wrong with post-apartheid SA: growing disorder and an alarming lack of will to deal with it. Steinberg also wrote that there was no evidence the world over that the death penalty was a greater deterrent against committing serious crimes than life imprisonment.