SCHOOL OF DETERRENCE Not a few sectors regard death penalty as a crucial and unusual form of penalty, abominable and reprehensiblein itself. While this argument rests on good authority, it sidetracks the predicamentof the family or clan of the victim who seeks bloodfor blood to assuage their woundedprideor pain of loss. Revenge is a natural inclination and, wherethe aggrieved partyis deprived to demandjusticein its fullest extent, he or his family might take the lawinto their hands. And whenthis happens, whatbeganas a simple case of homicide or robbery or rape may growto a clan or war of attrition that disrupts the peace and tranquility of the community, a greater evil thatthe lawofequality seeks to obviate or avoid. Wegrant that the death penalty is an extreme measure that does not afford the convict the opportunity to reform and, with his execution, his family suffers the loss offilial affection and guidance from him. But this is one area wherethe state should come in pursuantto the doctrine of parens patriae and look after the needs of the family of the convict, including its upkeep and the educationof the children. In an Islamic state, the government is enjoined to provide free public education to everybodyin all levels, irrespective of one’s station in life43 and to collect a poor tax fromits citizens who are competentto payfor the orphans, the wayfarer, the widows, those in bondage andin debt, the poor and the needyirrespective of theirreligious affiliation.44 There are academic studies which claim that the death penalty is not a deterrent. Such a conclusionis an extrapolation fromtherising statistics of crime and the social profile of death convicts who mostly belong to the poorsector of society and wholive in blighted section of the community. But this does not validate the claim that death penalty does notinstill fear in man or would-be criminals. In purely Islamic society where public execution of “ordinary criminals” is done, the rate of crimeis enviably lowandthereexists a prevailing sense of personalsecurity or safety amongits residents. In Lanao del Sur, this year, drug traffickers have dispersed to other areas for fear of Moro separatists who have gone on executing someof their members. In Saudi Arabia, American Foreign Minister William Rogers, during his visits to the kingdom in 1972, dispensed with the armored cars and bodyguards and walked through the souks by himself with a feeling of security that he had not experienced in Westerncities. However, to renderit as an effective instrumentofstability in society or as a school of deterrence, death penalty should be taught to children as part of our criminaljustice system. Growing to manhood withthe consciousnessthat death is the wagefor heinous crimes, they would acquire a “social psyche” or “social conscience” disposed to moderation even when understressful conditions. REMISSION AND COMMUTATION Indeed, retributive justice, deterrence and order in society constitute the primordialjustifications for death penalty. As articulated by the High Court in People vs. Ubaldo: * Article 9, 1990 Cairo Declaration on HumanRights onIslam “ Qur'an 70:24-25; 9:60, 103 20