Last Monday, Dwayne Jordan joined a small local group which seldom receives new members when he was sent to death row by Justice Navindra Singh to await his execution for the murder of his wife, Claudine Rampersaud, on June 14, 2007.
Because it bucks the current trend, which sees men receiving varying prison terms—sometimes as little as eight years—for killing their wives, Justice Singh’s ruling has the potential for landmark status and has been applauded by all who view the murder of women by their partners as heinous and are looking at ways to end this scourge. Some observers argue, however, that a death sentence will not necessarily prove to be a deterrent.
The proponents of punishments like the one meted out to Dwayne Jordan believe that some men murder their wives/partners simply because they believe they can get away with it, and that a death sentence might give them pause. It is a fact that the men who kill the women in their lives sometimes do so with impunity, while others receive ‘slap on the wrist’ sentences and yet others serve reasonable sentences which allow them to hopefully be rehabilitated and returned to society as useful citizens. This is because the judicial system allows the prosecution to accept pleas of guilty to manslaughter in some cases.
Opponents point to the fact that in many of these cases the men kill themselves or attempt to, an indication that at least at the time they were committing the murder, they also had no wish to live. The belief here is that the reason men choose to kill their spouses is deeper than the obvious—the claim of infidelity being the most prevalent—and this needs to be addressed or death sentences notwithstanding, the murders will persist and increase.
For this year, up to the end of November, 21 women have been murdered by men in varying circumstances. The chance that there could be others before this year ends is high, given the fact that even as this column is being prepared and read there are scores of women, right here in Guyana, being physically abused by their spouses/partners and any one of them, either by accident or design, could be the next statistic. Men have used guns, knives, cutlasses, ice-picks, pieces of wood, hammers and other implements to harm the women they claim to love, in many cases the ulterior motive being the need to feel powerful and in control, to massage their egos and bolster their insecurities.
In addition, there are without a doubt, rapists stalking their next female victims, simply because these are the women they can easily prey on and exert power over. The act of rape has more to do with power than with the actual sex; a rapist uses force or violence — or the threat of it — to take control over the person he is raping. Women have been killed while being raped, or resisting it.
As social scientists continue to examine the causal factors of these crimes, which have already been found to include alpha male stereotyping and the persistent instilling of gender roles, men and women who raise children need to—by teaching and example—show them that violence is never the correct response to hurt feelings. There needs to be acceptance too that men suffer some of the same mental health issues as women, depression being chief among them, and for ways to be found to have them access the necessary help. Men must be made aware that there is nothing effeminate about being insecure—it’s a human condition—and that they do not have to ‘man up’ by abusing alcohol or lashing out at a woman, or any other person for that matter, in order to feel better about themselves. What is unfortunate is that the shift which needs to occur will be a long time in coming, since it involves behaviour modification. On a more positive note, those who study the human mind believe it can and will happen, change being the only constant.
