Prof. Stephen Barnes- Dean, Graduate and International Programs from Penn State Law College, USA visited Amity University, Sector-125, Noida and signed an MoU with Amity Law School Noida.

The MoU was signed by Prof. Stephen Barnes and Prof. (Dr.) GurinderSingh- Additional Group Vice Chancellor, Amity in the presence of Maj. Gen Nilendra Kumar- Director, Amity Law School, Noida. The MoU will facilitate Student and Faculty Exchange Programmes, Joint Research projects, attractive Scholarship Schemes and exchange of scientific materials, publications and information. This year, 8 students of the Institute have already been offered admission in Penn State for Law for LLM programme with scholarship and more are lined for the interview

During the occasion, Prof. Stephen Barnes delivered an interestinglecture on “Crime and Punishment in America” for the budding jurists of AmityLaw School, Noida.

Addressing the students and quoting the data from Centers for Disease Control Prevention (2014), Prof. Stephen Barnes stated that United States has the highest gun ownership rate in the world with 88.8 guns per 100people and 270,000,000 total civilian guns with total 9,960 cases of homicides with guns as compared to India with has 4.2 guns per 100 people and 46,000,000total civilian guns with total 3,093 number of homicide cases with guns. He remarked that guns are killing machines and in the District of Columbia, the rate of firearms death is higher than traffic fatalities.

Dwelling on the situation of Law and Justice in America and referring to the 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution of America, he said that as per Constitution “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed .” He stressed that the Constitution of America allows the citizens to keep and display arms for their security and safety, which has resulted in an increasing number of victims of gun violence in America during last few years. Although, he averred that, the Federal Laws prohibit purchasers including convicted drug offenders, persons with documented mental illnesses and veterans with a dishonorable discharge.

The students of Amity Law School, when asked by Prof. Barnes, gave valuable suggestions to handle the liberal use of firearms in America such as -putting a cap on the number of bullets issued to a person in America, Stringent background checks by licensed gun dealers of all prospective purchasers and building the trust and confidence of the people in the Law and Justice in the country.

The erudite speaker also discussed about “Capital Punishment” in America vis a vis India and stressed that Capital Punishment is neither a retribution nor a deterrence for a criminal; it may bring down the expenses of the State since it is cheaper to kill someone than feeding him for lifetime. He highlighted that in 2013,the number of executions in US were 30 and in 2015, it came down to 28. He remarked that US has 5% of the world’s population but houses 25% of its prisoners. More and more non violent drug offenders in US are behind bars.

The students of Amity Law School vociferously spoke in favor of Capital Punishment in rarest of the rare cases, as a deterrent for criminal minds.

Also present during the occasion were Dr.Shefali Raizada- Dy. Director, Amity Law School, Noida and Ms. Mokshda Bhushan-Assistant Professor, Amity Law School, Noida and Coordinator, International Collaborations, Amity Law School, Noida