From LOOP Jamaica

Opposition Spokesman on Justice, Mark Golding, has described recent statements from the now-National Security Minister, Robert Montague, about the possible resumption of hanging, as mere political gimmickry and not a serious policy initiative.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for 322 new police constables at the National Police College in Twickenham Park, St Catherine on Friday, Montague said he has asked State Minister Pearnel Charles Jnr to consult with a number of agencies, including the Attorney General’s office and the Justice Ministry, to determine if there are any legal impediments to the resumption of hanging in Jamaica.

Montague said as part of the Government’s approach to tackling lawless elements across the country, the Security Ministry is committed to a strategy of preventing crime and creating community safety, based on five key pillars. These he listed as crime prevention through social development, situational prevention, effective policing, swift and sure justice processes, and reducing re-offending.

In respect of the swift and sure justice pillar, he said: “It cannot be, that persons feel comfortable to exact criminality, but do not expect to be severely punished. Persons who intend to break the law must know that the punishment will be sure, swift and just.”

In explaining his rationale for exploring the hanging option, Montague later cited that, to his understanding, legal conventions and treaties do not supersede national laws, thus, with hanging still on the books of Jamaica, it may be more of an administrative challenge than a legal hurdle to effect its resumption.

The last persons hung in Jamaica were Stanford Dinnal and Nathan Foster on February 18, 1988, at the St Catherine District Prison in Spanish Town.

The Prat and Morgan ruling by the UK-based Privy Council of in 1993 stipulated that a death sentence should be carried out within five years of the sentence being handed down. As a result, a number of death sentences have since been commuted to life imprisonment.

However, as Jamaica’s murder rate balloons over the years, the debate over whether or not hanging should resume has gotten louder. But the administrations over the years have consistently been mindful of international treaties that could prove problematic for the return of hanging.

In his response, Mark Golding, the most recent former Justice Minister, said there are several factors, primarily human rights provisions in the Jamaican constitution, which do not favour the resumption of hanging in Jamaica.

He also said that only the courts, and not the Government or Parliament, can get people hanged, this by imposing the death penalty under the very strict conditions in place.

For more on this story go to: http://www.loopjamaica.com/content/mark-golding-labels-montague%E2%80%99s-hanging-posture-political-gimmickry