Dear Editor,
In a well expressed challenge to death penalty abolitionists `What are the alternatives to capital punishment?’ (SN 5th April), Yvonne Sam asked about alternatives.
Good point. If we are never going to execute murderers what are we going to do with them? The answer is simple. Lock them up and keep them locked up until they are no longer a danger to society. While they are locked up we should do our best to rehabilitate them. We should help murderers to understand that killing is wrong. To realise what a terrible thing you have done by taking the life of another human being is a form of punishment in itself.
We should help prisoners to learn how to lead constructive lives in society. When a murderer is no longer a danger to society he (it is usually a “he”) should be released. Unfortunately some people will never be rehabilitated and they will never come out because they remain a danger to society.
Being locked up is punishment enough. The conditions in prison should not further destroy human dignity or damage the human spirit. It is increasingly obvious each day as the suffering and brutality continue in the Georgetown Prison that we must get rid of that prison and replace it with something more humane, not just for the prisoners but for the prison officers also. We could learn from Halden (Norway) the most humane prison in the world whose inmates include murderers. Halden is focussed on rehabilitation. All prisoners, even murderers, go back into society. We don’t have Norway’s money or the social and material equality that underpin Norwegian society. But we should do the best we can. The new prison must give prisoners the physical, mental and spiritual space to allow them to grasp the horror of what they have done, suffer remorse and change from killers to people who value life. Prison officers must have proper remuneration, safe working conditions and the right training to enable them to focus on rehabilitation.
Ms Sam also mentioned that if we remove the death penalty we need to find formidable deterrents to replace the death penalty. Absolutely. However we should remember that the death penalty is not a deterrent. There is a lot of argument about murder rates and the death penalty, but correlation is not proof; the causal link is missing. No one has yet come up with evidence, beyond reasonable doubt, that the death penalty works i.e. that someone who was about to commit murder changed his mind because of the death penalty. On the contrary, most murders are committed by people in the grip of some strong emotion – rage, fear, jealousy. Often the murderer’s reason and self-control have been impaired by drugs or alcohol. The death penalty is irrelevant. It has no restraining impact on the man who kills his wife in a jealous rage or the affronted drunk wielding a cutlass. The death penalty also has no impact on those who kill for money or because they are involved in drug wars or gang wars. Killing is part of the job description. Rather than making society safer the death penalty may even endanger the police. Would a killer submit to being arrested, tried and sentenced to death or might he be tempted to kill the police officer and get away if he can?
In December 2015, we foolishly extended the death penalty to terrorists. This is the one group of people who really don’t care if they die. Death at the hands of the state is martyrdom – no deterrent effect there.
For the vast majority of people, taking the life of another human being is simply unthinkable and evil. But for the tiny group whose moral framework is defective, there needs to be an effective deterrent. That deterrent is the certainty that they will be caught and sentenced. In other words the most effective deterrent to murder is the knowledge that you won’t get away with it. We need a well trained, well-equipped and well-remunerated police force staffed by individuals who have integrity. That, not the death penalty, is what will protect us.
Next month we celebrate our Golden Jubilee of Independence. What a pity we still have some colonial baggage.
In 1965 Great Britain abolished the death penalty for murder in the mother country but kept it for British Guiana. It was unacceptable for the State to kill a British citizen but fine to kill the colonial subjects. Perhaps even now, we believe that our lives are less valuable. We have the highest suicide rate in the world. We have the fourth highest road death rate. We have a murder rate hovering around 18 per 100,000 compared to less than 1 per 100,000 in Great Britain.
The Government should send a clear message that Guyanese lives are precious, and that each one of us has dignity and a right to life. Announcing that the death penalty will be replaced with humane imprisonment would be a good first step.
Yours faithfully,
Melinda Janki