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'Not the noose' - Parliamentarians propose lethal injection, electric chair as alternative to hanging
JAMAICA SEEMS set to retain the death penalty but the hangman could have his workload shared as some parliamentarians have proposed the use of lethal injection and the electric chair in carrying out the punishment.
Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, in her contribution to the debate yesterday, said if Parliament votes to retain the death penalty, the gallows must be left to rust.
"If the vote is to retain the death penalty, I would like to suggest that we discard hanging as the method of carrying out the penalty," Simpson Miller said.
Law should be amended
Audley Shaw, the member of parliament (MP) for North East Manchester, moved to appease persons offended by the grotesque nature of the sentence of "being hanged by the neck until you are dead". He suggested the law be amended to include death by lethal inject or death by electric chair.
Government members Michael Stern and Dr St Aubyn Bartlett agreed that Parliament must amend the law to reflect the changes proposed by Shaw.
Whatever form the death penalty takes, Bartlett is ready to put murderers to death.
"I will accept the job as the hangman or the doctor who will pump the lethal injection," he declared.
Most support death penalty
Contributions made by MPs during the debate over the retention of the death penalty, which began last week in the House of Representatives, suggest most members are ready to give a lifeline to the irreversible punishment.
The vote will take place today after Prime Minister Bruce Golding closes the debate.
Roger Clarke, the Central Westmoreland MP, said his constituents had given him a wide range of recommendations on how convicted murderers should be put to death.
Among the methods Clarke shared with the House were putting the guilty before firing squads, drowning them and dropping them from aircraft.
Phillips against death
However, former National Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips indicated he would vote for Jamaica to abolish the death penalty.
Phillips said the death penalty was not the answer to Jamaica's crime problem. Jamaica, he said, has always responded with the strongest possible punishment to violence, yet crime continues to trend upwards.
"The severity of the punishment is not in and of itself a deterrent," Phillips argued. He said certainty of punishment was the best deterrent to crime but warned against using the death penalty.
Phillips called for more social intervention as a means of preventing persons from getting caught up in crime.
Simpson Miller did not give her position on the motion, but noted that Parliament "must be bold in the position we take and, in the end, move in a direction that is required for the attainment of justice for all our people".
More than 1,400 people have already been murdered in Jamaica this year.
Rural area MPs Robert Montague, Ian Hayles, Michael Stern, Roger Clarke, Dr Morais Guy, Audley Shaw and Franklyn Witter were strident as they argued for the retention of capital punishment.
"We want to live a long life, we want to breathe again. Crime has locked our society in a prison," Montague said.
He referred to life imprisonment as "a minimum wage" and charged that this must not be the reward.
daraine.luton@gleanerjm,com
Hanging in the balance
Jamaican lawmakers will today decide whether the death penalty should remain on the books. What are your thoughts on the hanging debate? Email comments to letters@gleanerjm.com or editor@gleanerjm.com; or post to The Opinion Editor, The Gleaner Company, 7 North Street, Kingston.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead1.html
JAMAICA SEEMS set to retain the death penalty but the hangman could have his workload shared as some parliamentarians have proposed the use of lethal injection and the electric chair in carrying out the punishment.
Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, in her contribution to the debate yesterday, said if Parliament votes to retain the death penalty, the gallows must be left to rust.
"If the vote is to retain the death penalty, I would like to suggest that we discard hanging as the method of carrying out the penalty," Simpson Miller said.
Law should be amended
Audley Shaw, the member of parliament (MP) for North East Manchester, moved to appease persons offended by the grotesque nature of the sentence of "being hanged by the neck until you are dead". He suggested the law be amended to include death by lethal inject or death by electric chair.
Government members Michael Stern and Dr St Aubyn Bartlett agreed that Parliament must amend the law to reflect the changes proposed by Shaw.
Whatever form the death penalty takes, Bartlett is ready to put murderers to death.
"I will accept the job as the hangman or the doctor who will pump the lethal injection," he declared.
Most support death penalty
Contributions made by MPs during the debate over the retention of the death penalty, which began last week in the House of Representatives, suggest most members are ready to give a lifeline to the irreversible punishment.
The vote will take place today after Prime Minister Bruce Golding closes the debate.
Roger Clarke, the Central Westmoreland MP, said his constituents had given him a wide range of recommendations on how convicted murderers should be put to death.
Among the methods Clarke shared with the House were putting the guilty before firing squads, drowning them and dropping them from aircraft.
Phillips against death
However, former National Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips indicated he would vote for Jamaica to abolish the death penalty.
Phillips said the death penalty was not the answer to Jamaica's crime problem. Jamaica, he said, has always responded with the strongest possible punishment to violence, yet crime continues to trend upwards.
"The severity of the punishment is not in and of itself a deterrent," Phillips argued. He said certainty of punishment was the best deterrent to crime but warned against using the death penalty.
Phillips called for more social intervention as a means of preventing persons from getting caught up in crime.
Simpson Miller did not give her position on the motion, but noted that Parliament "must be bold in the position we take and, in the end, move in a direction that is required for the attainment of justice for all our people".
More than 1,400 people have already been murdered in Jamaica this year.
Rural area MPs Robert Montague, Ian Hayles, Michael Stern, Roger Clarke, Dr Morais Guy, Audley Shaw and Franklyn Witter were strident as they argued for the retention of capital punishment.
"We want to live a long life, we want to breathe again. Crime has locked our society in a prison," Montague said.
He referred to life imprisonment as "a minimum wage" and charged that this must not be the reward.
daraine.luton@gleanerjm,com
Hanging in the balance
Jamaican lawmakers will today decide whether the death penalty should remain on the books. What are your thoughts on the hanging debate? Email comments to letters@gleanerjm.com or editor@gleanerjm.com; or post to The Opinion Editor, The Gleaner Company, 7 North Street, Kingston.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead1.html
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