More than 100 suspected drug dealers have been killed – either shot dead by police or murdered by unidentified vigilantes – since the election of Rodrigo Duterte as the Philippines’ president. On a recent weekend police officers killed eight known “drugs personalities” in the southern town of Matalam. Duterte was elected in May, having promised during his campaign to kill thousands of drug dealers and other criminals.
In the West we generally believe in the rule of law. If somebody is accused of a crime he is arrested, comes before a magistrate and is tried before a jury of 12 fellow citizens. The jury establishes the guilt, or otherwise, of the accused, and the judge determines the sentence. This has been the system since medieval days and has served us well.
Because of uncontrolled population growth, poverty, corruption, and lack of employment people take to drugs to blot out the misery of their lives. Along with drugs goes massive, uncontrolled, organised crime, especially in countries with weak institutions. I suspect there is a thought in the corner in the collective mind of many that a brief purge of “drug personalities” might prove a salutary lesson that is more effective than relying on a bunch of badly paid, corrupt policemen. But no civilised person can support summary executions.
You could go even further and take the view that if the death penalty is wrong, these drug dealers shouldn’t be killed, even after the due legal process. When it comes to gang crime, it can be very easy for an innocent young person to be caught up in the culture- maybe because their family is poor, or because there are very little opportunities for them, or because they like the community and friendships that come as being part of a gang. Regardless, I don’t think that killing these people is the right answer. We shouldn’t assume that they are pure evil, there is clearly a reason why they sell drugs. Instead, we should tackle the problems at their root, and reduce drug crime through reform of the penal system. And instead of trying to kill them, communities should provide youth projects and other activities for the mostly young men who are likely to go into drugs. Maybe this is all very easy to say living in the UK, but there must be a better way.