Is Islam effective in reducing crime?

Does fear reduce crime? What do Islam’s harsh punishments and real‑world evidence show?

Recently in Afghanistan, a public beheading was carried out in a festive atmosphere. This is nothing new in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. When the topic of maximum punishment under Islamic law comes up, the first thing that comes to mind is Hudud — specific punishments prescribed in the Quran and Hadith for specific crimes. These include amputation of the hand for theft, flogging or stoning to death for adultery, Qisas (retaliatory death penalty) for murder, and the death penalty for criticizing the Prophet and apostasy. Beyond this, harsh punishments are imposed for failing to follow many Islamic directives, and there are precedents of punishments ranging up to death for protesting against rulers. Criticizing the Prophet or God, raising protests, holding assemblies, exercising personal freedom and rights, engaging in premarital physical relationships, falling in love — the harsh and brutal punishments prescribed in Islam for these acts do not constitute crimes under modern law at all. Islam treats them as serious offenses, which is a clear violation of human rights and a crime against humanity in the name of Islam.

Islam wants to keep people in line through fear — but does this method actually work? What a cleric said or what an Islamic motivator said is pointless talk. We need to look at what statistics say, what social change says!

Saudi Arabia: The Real Picture of Crime in the Country with the Harshest Punishments

The Number of Executions Is Rising — Not Falling

Many people believe that people in Saudi Arabia strictly follow the law and that crime rates there are very low. But the reality is that Saudi Arabia is a more crime-prone country than Bangladesh. If harsh punishment were the guaranteed path to suppressing crime, then the number of capital offenses in Saudi Arabia should be trending toward zero day by day. But the reality is the complete opposite. According to data from the human rights organizations ESOHR and Amnesty International:

Number of executions in Saudi Arabia: 27 in 2020, 67 in 2021, 196 in 2022, 172 in 2023, 345 in 2024, and a record 347 in 2025 — the highest in Saudi Arabia’s history.

In 2024, 25 percent of all executions in the world were carried out in Saudi Arabia. Does that mean 25 percent of the world’s death-penalty-worthy criminals live in Saudi Arabia? Does carrying out one execution a day, the Saudi way, reduce crime? History says no. Even after so many public beheadings, why is the number of such punishments growing day by day? By the logic of fear, it should have dropped to zero.

The Death Penalty Is Often for Non-Violent Offenses — or for What Is No Crime at All

According to a statement by HRW (Human Rights Watch), 41 percent of all executions in 2024 were for non-violent offenses — participating in protests, anti-government activities, and drug-related crimes. Executions for drug offenses jumped from just 2 in 2023 to 122 in 2024 — an increase of more than 6,000 percent. This means drug crimes did not increase; the state is expanding its definition of capital offenses to suit its own convenience.

Saudi Arabia has no provision for life imprisonment. And the prison population stands at 68,000 — meaning 180 people per 100,000 are behind bars. Minor offenses don’t typically lead to imprisonment — so one can imagine how high the rate of serious crime must be.

Crimes Against Women: A Hidden Reality

In Saudi Arabia, even rape victims do not file complaints, because in most cases the victim herself ends up being punished. Only 1 in every 300,000 people there files a rape complaint. In 2019, only 8 people were punished for rape charges.

But in August 2019 alone, 111 Bangladeshi female domestic workers returned from Saudi Arabia after being subjected to abuse, of whom 38 reported being raped by their employers. Now calculate for 12 months. Factor in the hundreds of thousands of workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines, and African countries — and how horrifying is the true picture? Not everyone who is raped returns home or speaks out; many silently endure rape due to financial hardship.

How is this picture possible in a society where crime is supposed to decrease out of fear of punishment?

Bangladesh: Comparative Reality — Is Crime Higher or Lower Than Saudi Arabia?

The death penalty exists in Bangladesh, but the rate at which it is carried out relative to the population is very low. Since independence, no woman has been executed. Here, the death penalty is carried out by hanging, out of public view.

In 2024, the number of executions carried out in Bangladesh was zero. When someone is hanged in Bangladesh, the entire country hears about it, because it is extremely rare. Many people could count on one hand how many executions they have witnessed in their lifetime.

Some may feel that Bangladesh has a lot of brutal crime — but relative to the population, it is less than in Saudi Arabia, despite issues of corruption and lengthy judicial processes. Bangladesh is a tiny country with such dense population that if someone coughs loudly, 10 people will know about it. By comparison, Saudi Arabia is a vast country where hundreds of crimes remain hidden from public view.

The Reality of Bangladesh’s Prisons

As of July 2025, the total number of prisoners in Bangladesh’s jails is 77,291 — just 43 per 100,000 people against a population of 180 million. Of these, 75 percent are under-trial prisoners, and only around 15,000 are convicted inmates. The majority in Bangladeshi prisons are awaiting trial, and a large portion of them are imprisoned for political reasons.

Saudi Arabia (180 per 100,000) versus Bangladesh (43 per 100,000) — this difference alone reveals how ‘effective’ harsh punishment really is. Despite hundreds of public executions in Saudi Arabia, the incarceration rate there is more than four times that of Bangladesh.

What Does Scientific Research Say?

The Conclusion of the National Academy of Sciences

After reviewing more than three decades of research in 2012, the U.S. National Research Council concluded that no scientific basis had been found to prove whether the death penalty influences homicide rates. Three fundamental flaws were identified as reasons: the influence of non-capital punishments was not taken into account; how potential murderers perceive the risk of the death penalty was not measured; and the statistical models were unreliable.

The Real-World Examples of Canada and Europe

Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976. Before abolition, the homicide rate was approximately 3 per 100,000 — after abolition, it steadily declined to 1.85 per 100,000 by 2003. A United Nations research summary states that there is no proven relationship between the existence of the death penalty and lower crime rates.

The Consensus Among Criminologists

Surveys have found that 86.5 percent of criminologists believe the death penalty has no meaningful effect on homicide rates. Carnegie Mellon’s Daniel Nagin has stated: ‘Nothing is known about how potential murderers actually perceive the risk of the death penalty.’

A Comparative Picture: Netherlands vs. Saudi Arabia vs. Bangladesh

The difference becomes clearest when a country with a humane justice system is compared with a punishment-centered Islamic state:

Netherlands (No Death Penalty, Abolished in 1982)

• Population: 17.8 million
• Prison incarceration rate: only 54 per 100,000 (2021)
• Homicide rate (2020): 0.61 per 100,000 — among the lowest in the world
• Legal protections for rape and sexual assault enforced; reporting is not discouraged
• Minorities and foreigners also receive judicial protection

Saudi Arabia (Sharia-Based Harsh and Inhumane Penal Code)

• Population: 38 million
• Prison incarceration rate: 180 per 100,000 — more than three times that of the Netherlands
• Annual executions: a record 347 in 2025 — second highest in the world
• Public beheadings, hand amputations, and stonings are still practiced
• A rape victim may herself face trial; reporting is extremely low

Bangladesh (Death Penalty in Place, Rarely Carried Out)

• Population: 180 million
• Prison incarceration rate: 43 per 100,000 — less than one-quarter of Saudi Arabia’s
• 75% of prisoners are under trial; a large portion are imprisoned for political reasons
• Executions carried out in 2024: zero

The comparison gives much food for thought. Where the death penalty is absent or rare, incarceration rates are lower and society is safer. Where public beheadings take place, incarceration rates are far higher and crime is not declining.

Why Can’t Crime Be Reduced Through Fear?

Reason 1: Most Crimes Are Not Premeditated

Research in criminal psychology says that most violent crimes occur in the heat of emotion, under the influence of the moment — not through calculated consideration of punishment. A murderer or rapist does not think about the consequences of the death penalty at the moment of committing the crime. Therefore, the fear of maximum punishment cannot stop them.

Reason 2: The Certainty of Punishment, Not Its Severity

Criminologists say that the certainty of punishment is more important than its severity. Where there is a guarantee that committing a crime will lead to being caught and receiving fair justice, crime is lower. Saudi Arabia has the death penalty, but lacks transparency in its judicial process — the wealthy and powerful are spared, while the poor and foreigners receive the death penalty.

Reason 3: A Culture of Fear Conceals Crime

In Saudi Arabia, not reporting rape has become ‘normal’ because the complainant themselves may face punishment. As a result, while crime may appear to have ‘decreased,’ it has simply disappeared from the statistics. A culture of fear does not reduce crime — it only hides the numbers.

Reason 4: The Law Becomes a Political Weapon

In 2024, 13 percent of Saudi Arabia’s death sentences were in the name of ‘terrorism’ — which included members of the Shia minority community who participated in protests between 2011 and 2013. At that point, Hudud law is no longer just ‘God’s command’ — it becomes an instrument of state repression.

Religious Claims vs. Reality

Islamic orators often claim that crime is low in Islamic states because of Hudud punishments. But the data tells a different story. Iran carries out the most executions in the world — nearly half of all executions worldwide take place in Iran alone. Saudi Arabia is second. In both of these countries, drug trafficking, corruption, and violence exist at alarming levels.

Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, public beheadings and stonings occur. Yet drug production, violence against women, and overall violence there remain among the highest in the world. Punishment does not change people’s mindset.

By contrast, in countries like Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Japan, the death penalty does not exist or has not been carried out for a long time. These countries have some of the lowest crime rates in the world. There is much to learn from them — but that lesson is about social protection, education, employment, and a fair justice system.

Statistics Are Brutal — But Honest

Saudi Arabia executes a record number of people every year, yet capital offenses are not decreasing — they are increasing. Bangladesh very rarely carries out the death penalty, yet its incarceration rate relative to population is one-quarter that of Saudi Arabia. The Netherlands has abolished the death penalty, yet its crime rate is among the lowest in the world. Put these three examples together and the answer is clear.

The world’s top criminologists, United Nations research, and decade after decade of statistics have all converged on the same truth: the death penalty or Sharia-based harsh punishment is not an effective deterrent to serious crime. Fear does not make people good — it makes them fearful. But the core concept of justice is to reduce crime and to rehabilitate offenders.

To reduce crime, what is needed is the guarantee of justice, poverty alleviation, the spread of education, equal application of the law, and recognition of human dignity. Not in the shadow of the sword, but in the light of dignity, do people truly become good.

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Sources: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ESOHR, Death Penalty Information Center, National Research Council (USA) 2012, Harm Reduction International, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, World Prison Brief, Macrotrends, Bangladesh Prison Directorate.