Editorial:
With the dramatic upsurge in crime and violence throughout the Caribbean to include some senseless and cold-blooded murders, many Caribbean Governments are seriously contemplating the re-introduction of capital punishment by death according to law or the “death penalty” as a means of deterring criminals. All kinds of rational and sensible debates at all levels, ranging from Government to Parliament to the ordinary man-in-the-street, have been taking place and are now raging.
Institutions like Amnesty International, some sections of the Christian community as well as the many voices from the anti-death penalty advocates cannot be convinced that capital punishment is a deterrent to crime. Some experts have even resorted to statistics from countries where the death penalty is in force to justify their anti-death penalty positions.
Caribbean Bishops, during their recent “ad limina” visit to the Vatican - Rome, have approved a pastoral letter which essentially states that “every effort should be made to preserve the sanctity of life”. The letter, entitled On the Gift of Life, seeks to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s teaching on the sanctity and dignity of human life. The Caribbean Bishops are not unaware of the frightening crime situation in the region; so too are they aware of the thinking and intentions of some Caribbean Governments.
In that regard, the AEC Bishops responded by asserting that the Church’s teaching does not provide the basis for the re-introduction or the renewed use of the death penalty which Caribbean Governments are considering. They expressed their firm desire that the leaders and peoples of the region move towards total abolition of the death penalty. They further suggested that emphasis should be placed on the rehabilitation of the offender rather than on his elimination. Non-lethal forms of punishment, say the Bishops, are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.
Just a little bit of common sense and some astuteness would reveal that it is a total contradiction to take one’s life as a form of punishment for taking someone else’s life. Even before rehabilitation, as the Bishops suggested, there is the need to consider the causes of crime as a step towards “nipping it in the bud”. The old adage says that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”.
In Grenada, the seeds of violence are sewn in places and by people considered less likely to perpetuate violence. Ordinary quarrels and fights in the homes, particularly among parents or guardians, are often sources of violence, for that is what the young are witnessing. The dirty mud-slinging of the political platforms and the hostile debates which are so commonplace in the nation’s parliament, particularly for the last twelve years, televised for everyone, all form the cradle of hostile intentions.
Violence and crime also have an economic twist. Most of the murders so far for this year have money written all over them. The big drug burst in St. Andrew last week, and all drug related crimes, have money as the root of the evil. When “big people” are behind that operation, unseen and unheard, this puts the icing on the cake.
The AEC Bishops, upon returning to their various Dioceses and countries, should engage and involve the Governments, other Christian denominations, N.G.Os and the business community in perennial discussions aimed at a holistic approach to crime. A one-off emotional religious service called for by the Government after a murder achieves nothing.
