THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE LAST hanging carried out in Jamaica was 1988 and, since that landmark case of Pratt and Morgan, the rest of the murder-condemned inmates are languishing in jails and more are added as the murder rate continues to escalate unabated to a frightening level.
My contention, like many other Jamaicans, is that if the law is in existence from its enactment and is not being implemented, but appears to be suspended indefinitely, then some sort of constitutional amendment must come about in the form of abrogation or annulment, and not to have us each day saying hanging "to be or not to be".
Has anyone ever stopped to think where will accommodation be found for condemned inmates in the coming years if the cases of those on death row are disposed of and what public funds will be used to sustain them?
The other important issue is the establishment of a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the final arbiter of justice in the region to replace the Privy Council in England.
In the wake of the recent Privy Council ruling, the government must take the necessary action to entrench the CCJ in the Jamaican constitution. They must resume hanging or abolish it
I am, etc.,
DAVID A. SAMMS
842 East 55th Street
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11234, USA
