07-Nov-23 15:00

Shreya Rastogi, Director for Death Penalty Litigation, Project 39A | Neetika Vishwanath, Director for Sentencing, Project 39A

Earlier this year, the government of Malaysia took the highly progressive step to abolish the mandatory death penalty. Just to be clear, Malaysia still retained the death penalty but it's now completely under the discretion of the judges. In other words, before this, there were several offences in which if you're found guilty, you will receive the death penalty regardless of the circumstances or what the judge thinks. Whereas now, the judge will have the final say.

But is this enough? After all, in a world plagued by injustice and inequality, the death penalty – in any form – stands as a grotesque symbol of our society's flawed pursuit of justice.

We speak to Shreya Rastogi and Neetika Vishwanath from Project 39A, an organisation based in India focused on criminal justice reform and the abolition of the death penalty. We discuss feminism, Angela Davis and how the death penalty and the criminal justice system at large, criminalise the poor and marginalised.

Image Credit: Shutterstock/YuriAbas