Welfare State Right to Life and Capital Punishment in India

Contents: Foreword. Introduction. 1. The state and its judicial welfare responsibilities. 2. The right to life in a justice system. 3. Jurisprudence and punishment. 4. Conventional philosophies of punishment. 5. The Constitution of India and the Right to Life. 6. The Right to Life in International Law. 7. Defining hanging: a comparative and historical overview. 8. Europe and the capital punishment. 9. The psycho-legal field. 10. A criminology study and the deterrence hypothesis. 11. Offender rehabilitation, treatment and correctional approaches : finding alternatives.

"The purpose of this book is to analyse the socio-legal framework in India, where a welfare state, right to life and capital punishment operate side by side. The inter linkages and contradictions dealt with are relevant to societies with complicated and vast social structures such as India\'s. The understanding of the welfare component in difficult criminal cases must-be understood as a real balanced judicial responsibility. This book introduces various levels of support to the legal notion of right to life, where jurisprudence, constitutional law and criminal law are inextricably linked while determining the supremacy of right o life. The role of psychologists and forensic psychology, have also been given an equally important position as law, to trace the legitimacy of capital punishment in developing countries. The book introduces the importance of constructional strategies based on state responsibility, and an interdisciplinary approach towards crime and punishment. The core question is : what is the most proper alternative to capital punishment suitable to the Indian legal context." (jacket)