Peter Espeut LAST SATURDAY in the United States, George Ryan, the outgoing Governor of the State of Illinois, commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences of all 167 Illinois death row inmates. He is a thoughtful and responsible man, and we must listen carefully to the reasons for his decision.
He had been a strong death penalty advocate at the beginning of his political career in 1977. "I was a member of the General Assembly at that time and when I pushed the green button in favour of reinstating the death penalty in this great state, I did so with the belief that whatever problems had plagued the capital punishment system in the past were now being cured".
Governor Ryan and his aides analysed the justice system in his state, and despite the wealth at their disposal - much more than we have in Jamaica he found it seriously wanting. Among other things, they found that a disproportionate number of men on death row were black - not that whites did not commit murder, but that the death penalty was not as often sought when whites were convicted of murder. They found that juries were three-and-a-half times more likely to recommend capital punishment if the victim was white than if he were black.
He found that more than 50 per cent of Illinois jurors could not understand the confusing and obscure sentencing instructions that were being used. He observed that during his four-year term as Governor they had executed twelve men and exonerated seventeen men who were on death row (who had been wrongfully convicted). "How many more cases of wrongful conviction have to occur before we can all agree that the system is broken?"
He quoted former California Governor Pat Brown speaking 50 years ago: "Society has both the right and the moral duty to protect itself against its enemies. This natural and prehistoric axiom has never been successfully refuted. If by ordered death, society is really protected and our homes and institutions guarded, then even the most extreme of all penalties can be justified. ... it has neither protected the innocent nor deterred the killers. Publicly sanctioned killing has cheapened human life and dignity without the redeeming grace which comes from justice metered out swiftly, evenly, humanely".
Governor Ryan observed that: "The death penalty has been abolished in 12 states. In none of those states has the homicide rate increased". We can add that in Trinidad where nine murderers were hanged over the space of a week in a highly publicised pre-election gambit, that the murder rate has since increased.
Governor Ryan explained that he was struck by the anger of the families of murder victims, who talked about "closure". "They pleaded with me to allow the state to kill an inmate in its name to provide the families with closure. But is that the purpose of capital punishment? Is it to soothe the families? And is that truly what the families experience?"
He has been in contact with world figures many Jamaicans revere and respect. Archbishop Desmond Tutu had written to him last week: "To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge; it is not justice". Tutu counselled that justice allows for mercy, clemency and compassion; these virtues are not weakness. Closure will come from these virtues, not from vengeance. He quotes Gandhi's famous saying that: "An eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind".
Nelson Mandela counselled that the US should set the example for justice and fairness for the rest of the world. Mandela, as President of the new South Africa following the brutal Apartheid regime which spilled the blood of many of his friends and colleagues, had himself abolished the death penalty in his country. Governor Ryan realised that the United States is not in league with most of their major allies Europe and Canada on this matter, but "are partners in death with several third world countries". Like Jamaica!
"As I prepare to leave office, I had to ask myself whether I could really live with the prospect of knowing that I had the opportunity to act, but that I failed to do so because I might be criticised. Could I take the chance that our capital punishment system might be reformed, that wrongful convictions might not occur?"
"Because our three-year study has found only more questions about the fairness of the sentencing; because of the spectacular failure to reform the system; because we have seen justice delayed for countless death row inmates with potentially meritorious claims; because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious - and therefore immoral - I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death".
"There have been many nights where my staff and I have been deprived of sleep in order to conduct our exhaustive review of the system. But I can tell you this: I will sleep well knowing I made the right decision".
A powerful speech, from a man of integrity! A man who is loath to have human life on his conscience.
The justice system in Jamaica is in much worse shape than in the state of Illinois - from the penchant of the security forces to take no prisoners, to inept investigating by the police, to the lumbering, cumbersome court system, to the dank, overcrowded dungeons we call prisons - but our public officials lose no sleep over it. I hope the brave actions of Governor George Ryan will reverberate around the world - and especially here in Jamaica - to waken slumbering consciences. Sir Howard is a man of God. What say you, sir?
Peter Espeut is a Roman Catholic Deacon, a sociologist and Executive Director of an Environment and Development NGO.
