THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE CALL by the Prime Minister to amend the constitution to facilitate the reintroduction of hanging is but a reflection of the intellectual bankruptcy of the present Government.
Does anyone really believe that any of the criminals are going to shake in their boots if the ten or twenty per cent of the people who commit capital crimes are hanged? The only thing that acts as a real deterrent is the likelihood of being caught. No murderer is going to decide to shoot somebody because he will only get life imprisonment. They carry out such acts expecting to get away with it and up to now they have very good reason to believe that they will.
In opposing the death penalty I'm not at all being squeamish. In fact I consider it to be a much more humane alternative to life behind bars in one of our prisons. My opposition is based on the practical consideration that we'll need to take the kind of actions that increases the risk of sentencing a few innocent people, if we are to make any progress in the crime problem. One of the areas we should look at instead, is whether or not we should discard evidence or statements of witnesses who have been murdered after making them. We should try to ensure that it is always in the interest of the accused to have all witnesses available for his lawyer to cross-question. I am not a lawyer, but those qualified to do so should look at the Dole Chadee episode in Trinidad a couple of years ago when the statement of a murdered witness was permitted.
I agree with those who say we have to give up some of our rights, and it is for this very reason that we need to avoid absolute judgements and irreversible forms of punishment. I do not agree with those who say that it is better that one hundred guilty men go free than have one innocent man is sent to prison. In our situation the probability is that the one hundred guilty men will probably cause harm to, if not kill, another hundred or more innocent people. I would suggest that we take the risk that one or two innocent people get unjustly detained but leave open always the possibility of taking corrective action.
I'm asking the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition to lead, and not just to look where the people are going and walk in front of them.
I am etc.,
R. HOWARD THOMPSON
c/o Manchester High School
P.O. Box 137
Perth Road, Mandeville
thompson@infochan.com
Via Go-Jamaica
