Dear Editor,
The London-based Privy Council, the final Appeal Court of several Caribbean nations and also Guyana’s until it was abolished by the tyrant Forbes Burnham, ruled on Monday that the death penalty is not a violation of the constitution of nations where it is law. Every territory in the region, including Guyana, has the death penalty although it has not been enforced. European countries have done away with the death penalty.
Clearly, the death penalty is constitutional as per the court’s ruling. Lawyers I have spoken with have mixed views on the death penalty, but a majority supports it. They say it is somewhat of a deterrent against capital crimes or crimes that carry the death penalty as punishment. Unlike other sentences, the death penalty, once carried out, cannot be reversed. In the US, innocents were known to be sentenced to long prison term and even the death penalty. Retrial and or thorough investigation of some convicted felons have been reversed.
If evidence is irreversible, a convict facing the death penalty should have his or her sentence carried out. It is an effective way to make criminals in very serious crimes accountable. There are too many cases of people being slaughtered – crimes of passion, robberies, etc. Death penalty should be enforced once there is no doubt about conviction. Our government should enforce the law on capital punishment if anyone is awaiting the gallows.
Yours sincerely,
Vishnu Bisram
