IN FLYING the kite of the restoration of capital punishment, whatever its intrinsic merits, retired president of the High Court, Mr Justice Richard Johnson, set legislators and diplomats no small challenge. Not least is the reality that three times since the 1990 repeal of the death penalty, its prohibition has been incorporated into the Constitution. Two referendums, one on the issue itself in 2002 and one in 2003 on the European Convention on Human Rights and two of its protocols banning capital punishment, incorporated a ban into Irish basic law.
Then, in June, voting on the Lisbon Treaty, the electorate copper-fastened the prohibition - citizens endorsed the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights whose Article 2.2 requires that: "No one shall be condemned to the death penalty or executed".
There is also the matter of an international treaty - Ireland is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Not only would restoration require successful passage of a constitutional referendum, but also the renegotiation of terms of membership of both the Council of Europe and the European Union, where the prohibition is regarded as a core value, and the repudiation of an international covenant.
But is there a case nonetheless for launching into that process? Mr Justice Johnson argues the commonly held view that the death penalty would deter those who arm themselves to go out on robberies and subsequently kill. But the truth is that, despite many studies, no statistical link can be shown between murder rates and the prevalence of the death penalty.
On the contrary, FBI data shows that all 14 US states without capital punishment in 2008 had homicide rates at or below the national rate. And while southern states account for over 80 per cent of executions, they have consistently had the highest murder rate of US regions. Comparing US and Canadian statistics is also instructive. Since 1972 Canada has had no executions while the US has executed over 1,000 people. Yet the homicide rates of both have closely tracked each other (although the US rate is 2.5 times larger). If anything, Canada's experience suggests ending executions leads to a drop in the murder rate. Today fewer than 60 countries retain the barbaric practice - some 2,390 were put to death last year while 30,000 remain on death row.
In 2007, with Ireland's support, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions. It is a welcome stance we should certainly not abandon.