Orville Taylor | No eye for an eye

What is the point in asking for something that you know that you are not going to get? After all, in the practice of law, speaking as an outsider, one of the fundamental tenets from my understanding, is that one does not litigate something, where in one’s own mind, and conscience, one believes that there is little chance of success.

It was 1988, the very last time that we carried out an execution in Jamaica. And inasmuch as a number of persons have been sentenced to death since that time, there is very little reason to believe that the death penalty, even if imposed, will ever be carried out in this country.

Two years ago, the government was speaking with great enthusiasm about amendments of The Offences Against the Person Act.

With a strong stance in the wake of a then recalcitrant homicide rate, Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared, “we have to increase the penalties, so that they carefully consider…”

In the prime minister’s comments, there is a clear message that the death penalty is a deterrent.

Certainly, it is a preventative, post facto, because once incarcerated, an influential prisoner can direct criminal activities from behind bars. Intelligence and information from police have linked hits, extortion and other major crimes to persons, who are serving not just long sentences, but paragraphs. This has been possible from before cell phones, though still illegal, were available.

As long as evil convicts are able to communicate with their cronies, who are roaming free, murderers in captivity will always continue to direct other homicides.

LITTLE TO DISPUTE

If this is the argument, then, there is little to dispute. A dead man absolutely cannot kill again. Yet, that is the only logical reasoning behind the death penalty.

In fact, that is precisely what an execution is; a penalty; not a deterrent to others.

And please, it is annoying enough to hear about Deuteronomy and Leviticus from the pastors who nitpick the Old Testament, but eat pork and shrimp. No one has been able to show me any evidence of Jesus advocating the death penalty.

Moreover, this is not a theocracy.

Flashback to the horrendous quadruple slaughter of four members of a family, including three children, all related to the killer. If there is a definition of heartless and other words unfit for print; then this young man, who was not only ‘family’ but given shelter by them, then he is a demon.

Most of the killings in Jamaica are by the gun. True, the removal of the gun is very likely to lower the capacity to carry out murder. However, there is a special set of monsters which are so ice cold that they can slaughter a human being or several humans, with the ease with which a butcher kills animals in an abattoir. Gunmen are detached from the actual act of killing, because there is some physical distance between them and the victim. Knife murderers are inhumane.

There should therefore be no misunderstanding or ambiguity regarding the need to punish such offenders and to do so severely. In some cases the murder is so egregious that as a society we form the opinion that even if the offender have been struck by Christ and rehabilitated like Saul, society must protect itself from the possibility that the reformatory process is not complete.

In such cases, the individual should not have any prospect of returning.

NOT YET RECOVERED

Tears still run down my face when I think of Barbara Gayle. We have not yet recovered. On the weekend, I drove past her community and the most horrific feeling clutched my stomach, turning it into knots. Do not think for any moment that the dark side does not share the same kinds of sentiments or emotions as a lynch mob.

It is human nature in these circumstances, to desire blood, when blood has been taken. Of course justice is not dictated by mobs, and the judicial process must be allowed to proceed.

From earlier reports, the suspect has given caution statements, which could amount to a confession. Only the court can determine after the ordered psychological evaluation how or whether or not the confession is valid in law, or if he is even fit to plead.

However, given what looks like this trend of evidence, what happens if he either confesses or is found guilty?

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), as it did in 2022, has come out swinging, declaring that it was going to seek the death penalty, obviously, because, in its legal mind, all of the requirements for a sentence of death would have been fulfilled.

Having eaten a meal or two with lawyers, and understanding the lane within which I run, I had consultations with attorneys. Given all of the facts, as well as external relationships we have with the European Union among others, the slope to climb to reach the zenith of execution is not only steep, but it has more hurdles and water jumps than the steeplechase, and for good measure add some ‘macca’ trees along the path.

The ODPP has far more knowledge individually and collectively, than a chatty mouth sociologist. Therefore, they clearly knew something in 2022 that the rest of us did not; and that is their job. With all the wisdom at its disposal, the ODPP made the decision not to push the grass cart up that hill, because the bumper on the grass cart would prevent it from going upwards.

Going forward. The question therefore is why do you ask for something that is not likely to happen? The logic behind that may lie in a space, that I do not occupy.

Still, the cry for blood and the declared stance of the ODPP, might not go forward, but it surely will get a ‘fawud!”

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.