Buddhism does not advocate the death or mutilation of criminals as a form of punishment, because these actions in themselves are cruel, and create much negative kamma for those who enforce them.

Instead, Buddhism suggests reforming criminals so that they may become productive members of society.

This is interesting to consider.

In an ideal world, where we had enough manpower, resources and funds to reform every single criminal, this would be possible. Some criminals would need drugs in their "rehabilitation program" too - since there is scientific evidence to show that, especially for violent criminals, their actions may sometimes be linked to cognitive malfunction or damage (e.g. schizophrenia, psychopathic behaviour), which is in most cases treatable.

However, this is the real world.

It is not economically feasible - or so governments presume - to spend so much on something which might or might not succeed.

The problem is, never in history has there been any attempt at setting up a large-scale, scientifically-studied and endorsed rehabilitation or reform program, and until governments find some huge incentive to do so, there never will be.

The bottomline for would-be offenders now is, make a mistake, and that’s it.

And of course, of greater concern is, what if the person were innocent?

Buddhism understands that all legal systems are human institutions and thus fallible. Wrong convictions do occur, and they can occur anywhere in the world to anyone.

What then? If capital punishment had been dealt out, it would be impossible to justly compensate the victim.

What is the Buddhist stand towards matters pertaining to sex, such as homosexuality and masturbation?

I have mentioned that Buddhism is largely non-judgemental. It is more concerned with what harm an action could do, rather than whether an action should be considered "acceptable" or "not acceptable" from the onset. Applying this thinking to the above two topics, one can arrive at an answer.

Homosexuality
Buddhism does not condemn homosexuality or homosexuals. Its stance towards this issue is neutral - as long as two persons have genuine mutual love for each other and influence each other positively, they should not be barred from developing their relationship.

Masturbation
Though there is no clear instruction on whether masturbation is "permitted" for all people other than monks and nuns, going by the principles of Buddhist belief, it should not be considered undesirable - as long as it does not cause adverse effects on the individual who engages in it.

It is interesting to note that masturbation for monks or nuns is an offence though. This is because such individuals are regarded to have renounced their secular lives in pursuit of the "truth", or "Dhamma", and in the process, one of the many things they must transcend, is sexual desire.