Dear Editor,
I note that Ms Yvonne Sam calls for the death penalty to be implemented in Guyana (SN, August 5). In a way this is understandable in the current context; there have been a number of horrific murders in Guyana recently and people are angry and afraid. However, bringing in the death penalty is not the answer. As Ms Sam touched on in her letter, there are numerous studies which prove that the death penalty is not a deterrent to murder. Executing criminals simply makes us as bad as them; but civilized societies ‒ decent, ordinary, law-abiding people ‒ are not criminals, we are better than them. We have to show that violence is not a way to solve problems. Equally importantly, no justice system is perfect, and there are regular occurrences all over the world of people being convicted of serious crimes and then being found to have been innocent of those crimes. If someone is executed, then there is no comeback if he or she is subsequently found to have been innocent. This alone is a conclusive reason to abolish execution.
With Suriname’s abolition of the death penalty earlier this year, Guyana is now the last country in South America not to have abolished the death penalty. We invite Guyana to heed the UN’s calls and join the majority of the world in finally abolishing this inhumane and unnecessary punishment which in any case does not deter crime.
Yours faithfully,
Ambassador Robert Kopecký
European Union Delegation
to Guyana
