Making the punishment fit the crime

Jan 31, 2020 Editorial

Some actions of the judiciary continue to raise eyebrows, if not serious questions in the minds of observers. Truth be told, they do not add up; they lack consistency, and they leave a huge gap in those searching for some semblance of correlation in the judicial determinations handed down.
In the always thorny, never fully resolved, matters of crime and punishment, there is some shaking of the head in Guyana and wondering what next could be handed down.
This is the thinking of more than a few in this society, when the issue of sentencing comes up, since all manner of questions are raised: about correlation to the (mis)conduct, while making a balanced judgement relative to mitigation, rehabilitation and, ultimately, reconciliation with, or into, society.
All of this has relevance, but even when factored into the broadest of considerations, and given the widest of latitudes, some sentences do not relate well, and sit well, to the result of further recklessness and even more wanton disregard for the law.
One such instance that caught the eye and startled was the sentence of six months in jail imposed for the death of an 11-year old child struck down by a driver. It was not just any run-of-the-mill vehicular accident, but one where the child was hit on a pedestrian crossing.
This alone intensifies the severity of any sentence under consideration. Even if, for the sake of argument, this now lost young citizen met her end because of contributory negligence, as in rushing out into the pedestrian passageway at the very last minute, six months is still not enough, and by a wide margin.
This is postured because pedestrian crossings, anywhere, and none more so than those in the vicinity of schools, must be approached with a maximum of caution.
Rather regrettably, this is not what is observed of Guyanese drivers when they approach pedestrian crossings. In fact, the opposite is more likely to occur and is known to be the norm, which is that local drivers do one of two things or both: they blow horns as if to chase those daring to impede their accelerated passing, or they maintain speeds–usually above the legal limit to begin with-when seeing the human obstacles in their paths.
Slowing down from a distance is not part of the retraining mindset as part of preparing to come to full stop. Often, the sense is that, if drivers could go around those on foot, they would readily do so. For all of these reasons, a sentence of six months is not found acceptable.
Then there was the other side of the sentencing coin, which was more humorous than serious. A man was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for stealing women’s underwear. Six months for killing a child on a pedestrian crossing, but three years for pilfering one pair (only) of panties.
There could be some understanding of three years for stealing a lorry load of lingerie, but one pair of panties makes people talk to themselves.
Moreover, there is now that standard of four years for one kilo of cocaine, and the same four for one ton of the same death-dealing, spirit-breaking, societal scourge.
Something is wrong there, which only adds to the questions about maximum sentences and judgements handed down, be they constrained, or erratic, or questionablein some many regards. And it was almost a similar story, where a man (admittedly suffering from alcoholic amnesia) was given a lighter than the usual sentence for kicking his domestic partner in a bar washroom of all places.
In a society that reels from continuing incidences of horrendous domestic violence, that irresponsible and abusive spouse should have been given ample penitentiary time to dry out and think things over.
Examining the larger landscape, there is much that needs fixing. The President himself recently called for lower jail times for some offenses.
Further, there are calls for tightening traffic laws, which is a needed step and fully endorsed by this paper. The bottom line is that the punishment must fit the crime.

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Making the punishment fit the crime

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