Posted on 12/23/2002 1:37:46 PM PST by yankeedame
Jamaica wants to bring back hanging
By Oliver Burkeman in Kingston,December 24 2002
The Jamaican Government, facing a big rise in the number of murders, has proposed a constitutional amendment to bring back hanging, ending the decades-old arrangement whereby judges in London have the final say on the island's most serious crimes.
The proposed amendment by the Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson, has prompted fierce debate in Kingston, the Caribbean murder capital, pitting human rights activists against those who see the status quo as a colonial hangover.
"The Jamaican people are substantially agreed on the need to resume the death penalty," Mr Patterson said recently, shortly before Jamaica recorded its 1000th murder for the year. "We intend to heed the voice of the people."
The Prime Minister has won cabinet approval for the move that, if backed by parliament, would overturn key powers of Britain's Privy Council, which is the final court of appeal for several former Caribbean colonies, and which routinely commutes death penalties to life in prison.
At least 52 people have been sentenced to death since the last execution in 1988, says Amnesty International.
Mr Patterson says the rulings have made it "impossible" for his government to use the death penalty in a country exhausted by drug-related gun violence and warfare among political factions.
Among the judgements that could be overturned is the 1993 case of Earl Pratt and Ivan Morgan, convicted murderers who have spent more than a decade on death row.
The British judges ruled that a delay of more than five years before execution was inhumane, a decision that led to 100 death sentences being commuted.
Support for executions is put as high as 90 per cent, and such is the internal disagreement on the subject that even some human rights groups do not have a policy on the death penalty.
But Lloyd Barnett, chairman of the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights and a leading constitutional lawyer, is one of a minority accusing Mr Patterson of using the death penalty for political purposes. He said the Privy Council's rulings do not outlaw the death penalty, but simply govern how it is implemented. Some other Caribbean countries which retain the Privy Council do execute prisoners.
Barrington Fox, whose son Joel was killed by Jamaican police two years ago, said he understood why backing for the death penalty was so high.
"We don't know who will be next, so most people support it. I support it also, but with a qualification," he said. "The first question is who is arrested. If the police are assuming the youth of the ghetto is already guilty, we're never going to have justice."
The Guardian
How's about stoning, mon?
Did read THAT part..MINDLESS?
I bet Amnesty International will not put their money where their mouth is after a few of these freed murderers kill again, and its shown that they have paid for their release.
So what's wrong with that?
Whether you believe it deterrs or not, it makes an excellent punishment for heinous crimes. Or do you oppose punishment also?
I've always questioned the wisdom of lethal injection-- what's another needle in the arm to a drug killer?
Yes. And I'm not the only one (see post 9).
Glad to hear you're with the program.
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