COMMENT | It has been a little over a year since the abolition of the mandatory death penalty in Malaysia, and it is a good time to take stock of the developments since then and what remains ahead.

Getting right down to it, what has the abolition of the mandatory death penalty meant for us as a society?

The good news is, contrary to commentaries and beliefs by some extreme critics, the abolition of the mandatory death penalty has not resulted in mass hysteria and violence.

We do not have to walk the streets in perpetual fear that we will be the next murder victim and our roads are not littered with illicit drugs.

If anything at all, the inspector-general of police’s comments on murder rates is an indication that nothing substantive has changed since the abolition of the mandatory death penalty.

While the numbers have increased, we should not forget that...