Death penalty, to have or not to have – Parliamentarians to decide today

Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga

According to a report carried by Caribbean360.com, lawmakers had been debating on the matter for some two weeks and during last week’s sitting of the Jamaican Parliament, Prime Minister Bruce Golding called for a postponement of debate.

The media house reports that with 45 of the 60 Parliamentarians present, the PM said the action was taken for a number of reasons: “I would like to allow time to have the fullest possible attendance in the House.

Secondly, this issue is so important that I don't think any harm will be done if a few days on the weekend is allowed for members to think and, importantly, for persons to allow their conscience to be shaped and formed and influenced by members of the public and interest groups and so on.”

Caribbean360’s report informs that Amnesty, an international advocacy group for human rights, has been suggesting to Jamaican politicians, the implementation of “a strategic review of the police force and reforming the justice system” as opposed to upholding the death penalty.

Meanwhile, the upholding of the death penalty in Jamaican law, specifically relative to persons convicted of heinous child murders, was the impassioned viewpoint of former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Edward Seaga.~~Adz:Right~~

An article carried in the Jamaica Gleaner reports that Seaga attended the official launch of the Digicel Premier League first-round final between Harbour View and Tivoli Gardens when he expressed his ardent opinion.

The Gleaner quotes the former PM and President of the Premier League Clubs Associations as saying, “I say hang them, hang them and hang them high! …I am not a supporter of hanging but the killing of children is extraordinary and that calls for extraordinary circumstances.”

The ditching or upholding of the death penalty in Jamaican law has been a hot topic for some time now and, according to the Gleaner, today, Parliamentarians are expected to participate in a “conscience vote” which would be the deciding factor on whether or not capital punishment stays on the books.

Capital punishment was last carried out in Jamaica in the late 1980.