Dear Editor,
The following is an open letter to Opposition spokesman on justice, Senator Mark Golding:
Senator Golding, in seeking to justify your argument in the media against the death penalty, you mentioned that it is not a deterrent in so much that, although the death penalty was carried out in Jamaica in 1980, we had the highest number of murders.
Senator, I am sure had you done your research on the issue you would not have made such a statement. The murder figures for 1980, for the most part, were not regular robbery and murder of business people and others as is the case now. It was political gunmen being active in the most grave political warfare this country has ever seen.
The political war began in earnest from 1979 and continued through until election day, after which the People’s National Party — led by Michael Manley — lost power, and the Jamaica Labour Party took the reins, under Edward Seaga. On May 22, 1988, Manley, commenting on the number of murders of 1980, before a crowd of some 40,000 people at Frome Sport Ground in Westmoreland, on the 50th anniversary of the PNP, said: “The 1980 election death toll was senseless and only for the greed of power, unlike 1938 when people died for a cause.”
So it was not because the death penalty was not a deterrent to murderers then why 899 persons were murdered.
By 1981 the number of people murdered went down to 490.
If one looked back to 1970, when the number of murders was 152, the 1980 figure of 899 stood out as the highest then, but since that time the numbers have fluctuated, but never to the low number as in 1970.
So the argument about hanging is not a deterrent and that countries which do not carry out the death penalty have lower murder rates is baseless. There has been no hanging in Jamaica since 1984 and the murder numbers keep increasing.
Sir, think about this, if the death penalty is not a deterrent, why do convicted murderers spend so much money and time to appeal their death sentences? It is the odd persons for whom the death penalty is not a deterrent.
I think people who commit murder should be punished by death, as is prescribed by the Constitution of Jamaica. We have a law which says a person found guilty of robbery should be sent to prison, but although the law exists, criminals still carry out robberies. Since it seems not to be a deterrent, should we abolish the law and stop sending people to prison for robbery?
John D Kelly
Savanna-la-Mar
Westmoreland,
The following is an open letter to Opposition spokesman on justice, Senator Mark Golding:
Senator Golding, in seeking to justify your argument in the media against the death penalty, you mentioned that it is not a deterrent in so much that, although the death penalty was carried out in Jamaica in 1980, we had the highest number of murders.
Senator, I am sure had you done your research on the issue you would not have made such a statement. The murder figures for 1980, for the most part, were not regular robbery and murder of business people and others as is the case now. It was political gunmen being active in the most grave political warfare this country has ever seen.
The political war began in earnest from 1979 and continued through until election day, after which the People’s National Party — led by Michael Manley — lost power, and the Jamaica Labour Party took the reins, under Edward Seaga. On May 22, 1988, Manley, commenting on the number of murders of 1980, before a crowd of some 40,000 people at Frome Sport Ground in Westmoreland, on the 50th anniversary of the PNP, said: “The 1980 election death toll was senseless and only for the greed of power, unlike 1938 when people died for a cause.”
So it was not because the death penalty was not a deterrent to murderers then why 899 persons were murdered.
By 1981 the number of people murdered went down to 490.
If one looked back to 1970, when the number of murders was 152, the 1980 figure of 899 stood out as the highest then, but since that time the numbers have fluctuated, but never to the low number as in 1970.
So the argument about hanging is not a deterrent and that countries which do not carry out the death penalty have lower murder rates is baseless. There has been no hanging in Jamaica since 1984 and the murder numbers keep increasing.
Sir, think about this, if the death penalty is not a deterrent, why do convicted murderers spend so much money and time to appeal their death sentences? It is the odd persons for whom the death penalty is not a deterrent.
I think people who commit murder should be punished by death, as is prescribed by the Constitution of Jamaica. We have a law which says a person found guilty of robbery should be sent to prison, but although the law exists, criminals still carry out robberies. Since it seems not to be a deterrent, should we abolish the law and stop sending people to prison for robbery?
John D Kelly
Savanna-la-Mar
Westmoreland,