In support of death penalty abolition

Jun 22, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,

We should warmly welcome President Granger’s statement that he does not have any intention of approving the execution of anyone. This is exactly the kind of principled stand and moral leadership that Guyana needs from our Head of State.
There appears to be an emerging cross party realisation that Guyana has to find alternative and better forms of justice. This seems to be the right time to have a Select Committee which could consider a bill to replace the death penalty with more humane and more effective sanctions. The bill should also introduce restorative justice for the victims’ families.
The Select Committee could give us, the Guyanese public, the opportunity to say what we want our Government to do in order to reduce violent crime and protect our families and our friends. Families of the victims of serious crimes must be given the opportunity to have their say. We can seek to become better informed by inviting experts to testify to the Select Committee. Through this process of deliberative democracy, those for and those against can try to understand one another’s views and seek to build a consensus.
I feel I should thank the British High Commissioner, Greg Quinn, for his consistent and principled opposition to the death penalty. He has a point. The UK has a murder rate of less than 1:100,000. It seems almost churlish to remember that in 1965 when Britain abolished the death penalty, colonial subjects like us were regarded as expendable, and so the death penalty remained in the colony of British Guiana. Perhaps in this Golden Jubilee year, we, the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, will finally get around to abolishing this last vestige of colonial inequality.
The Deputy Chief of Mission of the USA, Brian Hunte supports the death penalty. With all due respect to Mr Hunte’s position, I do not think the USA is any position to advise anybody on matters of justice or security. The American ‘justice’ system is rotten. Innocent people get sentenced to death. The USA is one of the top five executioners on the planet. (The others are China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan). Yet the murder rate in the USA is nearly six times that of the UK. The State of Florida has executed 92 people in the last 40 years and currently has 400 people on death row. The recent mass killing in Orlando is a lethal reminder that the death penalty is not a deterrent.
The death penalty is not a solution to violence. It is the by-product of a violent society. The USA has nothing constructive to add to Guyana’s discussions on the death penalty. I wish Mr Hunt a safe trip home. The death penalty is barbaric, vile and ineffective. Are we now ready, as one people and one nation with one destiny, to get on with the business of building a society that does not take the lives of others – whether on the streets or through the courts?
Melinda Janki

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