Malaysia’s Public Opinion on Death Penalty

Abstract

The issue of abolishment of mandatory death sentence has long been debated in Malaysia and until now there is no agreement as to whether it should be abolished or continued. Since its been debated, it has created two parties supporting and opposing the implementation. This study has explored the public's perception regarding the issue and look at the opinions that often stand in their way of supporting and opposing the abolition of mandatory death sentence. This study uses qualitative method, the data was gathered from field notes written by the researcher in the course of interviews, or video recordings carried out by the researcher in natural settings. From the interviews, the researcher deduced that certain respondents are in favour of death penalty abolishment because of being in favour of human right and the perception that human being if given a chance can change, but they also emphasize that the hardcore criminal such as Illegal drug lord, serial killer, rape and sexual assault against children must be sentenced to death. this indicated that while there are advocates who support the death penalty, they still place an exception to their choice if it involves severe cases.