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A remedy for the criminal

Jan 16, 2016 Editorial, Features / Columnists

The year dawned horribly for some people. Within the first two days there were four murders, all of them brutal. By the fourth day there were two more, all of them the result of disorderly behaviour.  In one case a group of men ran down a young man with a vehicle then stabbed and beat him to death.
Another, while under the influence of alcohol, stabbed his cousin to death. Then there was the case of the man who in a confrontation with his brother-in-law, stabbed the younger man in the neck and killed him.
When these killings are concentrated in a given area the wider society tends to focus attention on that area. The first bit of attention is paid to the extent of police presence. Toward the end of last year, robberies had become commonplace in Berbice. The victims were largely the poor whose financial status meant nothing to the perpetrators.
It has now come to the fore that the perpetrators were largely drug addicts who turned to a life of crime to fuel their habit. And as if to support their activities, the community was largely silent, some out of fear and others because the perpetrators did not match the profile, and to change the perception would have attracted some political attention.
For their part, the police, using the limited resources at their disposal, have done remarkably well. Earlier this week the Divisional Commander resorted to using recruits from the Police Training College. What is clear is that when there is an increased police presence a lid descends on criminal activities. We therefore appreciate the efforts by the police to recruit at least one thousand more men and women.
Having boosted the ranks, the police may wish to pay even greater attention to drug use in the society. It is no secret that the drug addicts are becoming more than a nightmare. They are the young men who left school with no skill to help them in the world of work. The result is that they have no moral compunction to behave as any normal citizen would.
The age of the young men who carved out the first set of murders in Berbice tells the story. They were 18 years old, drug addicts, and obviously beyond the control of their parents. They ventured out to rob and then killed as though the human life was incidental to nothing. And to think that they actually celebrated while they killed their victims must be the most alarming thing.
So it is that a large section of the society wants to see a return of the death penalty. They point to the use of the death penalty when a certain type of crime threatened the very fabric of the society. That type of crime that involved home invasions, disappeared, but given that the last execution occurred in 1997, almost two decades ago, one could not help but notice that it has reemerged.
There is the argument that even with the best intentions, some countries send innocent people to the gallows; and this may be the same in some countries. In Guyana the authorities examine every aspect of the case before taking the ultimate action.
We are unaware that there would be anyone who would oppose the death penalty for the drug-crazed teenagers who brutally killed three people at the start of this year. There is the argument that they would suffer more if they are incarcerated for a long time; that they would get up each morning knowing that they have no freedom.
But that does not seem to be penalty enough for taking a life—one through a fiery death and the others by systematically chopping the victims until they bled to death.
One case in the courts currently testifies to the savagery of some other young people. Only those who must live in the shadow of the attacks on them know what vengeance really is.

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