Good way to go
Most of the world is now leaning toward abandoning the death penalty and opting for imprisonment for life with no option for release.
In my view, this is quite a good way to go. Should an innocent person be sentenced for the crime of murder and it is subsequently discovered that he or she was not the guilty party, at least, recompense can be made. However, if the person has been executed, no one has yet been able to resurrect the dead.
In any event, all persons convicted for murder are now awaiting appeals before the Privy Council and other agencies and will all probably be dead before their cases are finally settled. It would, therefore, seem to me that our courts should not really opt for the death penalty but ask for imprisonment for life.
- Barbara Cover, Kingston 6
Hang them now!I think it's time that Jamaica should resume capital punishment, as, for too long, the criminals are running things.
I would love to return to Jamaica with my family to live but we are all afraid that we are going to be murdered because all we hear about is killing. So, please, please, bring back capital punishment. Hang them now.
- Roger Miller,hirwood24@yahoo.ca
Curbing crimeI fail to see how imposing a death sentence, by whatever means, will curb the crime problem. There is no country on earth with the death penalty (and that currently implements it) where such a penalty has deterred or, in any way, stopped crime.
As has been pointed out by your editorials and most serious and objective folks, Jamaica needs more than the death penalty to control its crime rate. Jamaica needs the following - a professional police force, a bigger police force with more resources, committed social intervention, mature political leadership and policies which promote growth, development and positive values.
- Trevor Dawes, trevordaws@bellsouth.net
Cruising past JamaicaIn a letter to The Gleaner, (November 25), a reader wrote that he and his family may take a cruise vacation next year rather than continuing their regular trips to Jamaica. More travellers are opting for cruise vacations rather than risk visiting crime-ridden Jamaica.
The bad part is that even Jamaicans living abroad are following this new trend. The numbers may not be so great, as to affect the broader tourist industry, but, very soon, the country will feel the effect.
- Alvin Buchanan, alvinb@htn.net,
