A return to hangings — can this deter the criminals?CAROL MATROO Sunday, July 19 2009
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Criminologist and Independent Senator Ramesh Deosaran Victims should have say in sentencing....
Death row convict Ronald Tiwarie, who was sentenced to death for the brutal murder of his sister-in-law, Polly Ramnarine, in front of her daughter, Meena, will appear before the Mercy Committee on July 28.
The committee, officially known as the Advisory Committee on the Power of Pardon, is to consider pleas for mitigation before consulting with National Security Minister Martin Joseph on whether or not the President should be moved to pardon Tiwarie.
If he is not pardoned, then he would be the first person to face the hangman since the execution of Anthony Briggs on July 28, 1999. Briggs was sent to the gallows for the August 1992 murder of taxi driver Siewdath Ramkissoon.
This latest development brings to the forefront recent calls for the return of hangings in Trinidad and Tobago.
The spotlight returned to the hangman on July 1 during the funeral of Camille Daniel who was shot dead on June 26 by car-jackers at the West End Police Station.
Pastor Peter Morris of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, who performed the funeral for the slain mother of one, criticised the Government for the high murder rate and said hangings should resume. The Government has been coming under increasing pressure from the private sector, opposition politicians and public opinion to do something about the soaring crime rate.
Could the resumption of hangings curb the murders that most say would never be solved by the over-worked, under-equipped Police Service?
Attorney General John Jeremie, earlier this month, stated that, “We haven’t stopped it.”
Former AG Bridgid Annisette-George was once quoted as saying “The law is the death penalty. That is the law.”
Works Minister Colm Imbert has endorsed the death penalty, but noted that it was limited by the Privy Council which stated that a delay in executing the death penalty more than five years after sentencing would be cruel and inhuman treatment.
Shortly after returning to Government in 2007, Prime Minister Patrick Manning signalled that his preferred solution against crime was to return to executions, stating that it was all about enshrining in the law the conditions under which the death penalty could be carried out and not be left to the judgment of others.
“There have been a number of Privy Council decisions that have acted as constraints to the carrying out of the death penalty,” Manning said.
The London-based Privy Council is the island’s highest court, despite the 2004 establishment of the Trinidad and Tobago-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which regional governments want to be the Caribbean’s final court of appeal. While all Caribbean countries are signatories to the original jurisdiction of the CCJ, only Barbados and Guyana have signed up to its appellate jurisdiction. Regional governments have long complained that the Privy Council has restricted them in carrying out the death penalty. In particular, the Pratt and Morgan ruling in 1993, named after two convicted Jamaican killers, set a five-year time limit for executing convicted murderers after sentencing.
On June 4, 1999, defying pressure from Great Britain, TT carried out its first hanging in five years, even though Great Britain had abolished capital punishment.
The TT Humanist Association said in a statement at that time, “At a time when virtually every ‘first world’ country has abolished the death penalty, resuming hanging will banish us to ‘bush country’ status and (expose us to) international ridicule in one swoop.”
The infamous Dole Chadee gang met their end by the hangman’s noose under the tenure of former AG Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj. The executions made garish history in TT and internationally.
It was ironic that these nine men paid for their crimes with their lives since Maharaj admitted that he had been against the death penalty then, and still is now.
“I have been totally against the death penalty, but having regard to the present crime situation, the death penalty must be looked at as a means to preventing crime,” Maharaj said during a telephone interview with Sunday Newsday.
However, citing the Chadee gang executions, Maharaj said his duty was to carry out the law, admitting that the hangings did, at the time, act as a deterrent against crime in the country.
Maharaj, who was also a human rights lawyer before being appointed AG under the UNC government, was scathing in his criticism of Manning for calling for a return to hangings, after the PNM was re-elected. “It is a national joke for the prime minister in a situation where there is a 10-percent detection and a one-percent conviction rate to talk about implementing the death penalty as a solution to crime,” he declared.
Maharaj said he was against the death penalty because the investigation in TT was not recorded and did not have some of the safeguards of the interrogation process that were available in the United Kingdom and the United States.
“Innocent people could be convicted, especially since the Legal Aid system does not give people the best defence. There is no equality of arms... If the State retains a top lawyer, a poor man may not be able to get a lawyer with the same calibre and expertise. It is a troubling issue,” he said.
Maharaj said during his tenure as AG, he took to the Parliament a bill that stated the death penalty was held firm for the most brutal of murders.
“That bill was passed, but it was not implemented. At the time of the hangings, as Attorney General I had to carry out the law even though I was involved as a human rights activist. I still have reservations about it, but in light of the present crime situation, I think there are strong arguments in retaining the death penalty in heinous cases.
“Those of us who are against the death penalty must have a balancing exercise against having the penalty and against protecting society against the crime wave,” Maharaj said.
The man who made the call for the resumption of hangings, Pastor Morris, said he did so from a biblical standpoint.
Quoting from Genesis chapter nine, verse six, “Who so sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed”, Morris said human life was sacred.
“Man was made in the image of God and therefore his life is sacred. God has given into the hands of governments and leaders the reins of leadership to keep crime under control and keep justice in the land,” Morris said.
The pastor said justice delayed was justice denied, adding that criminals knew they could get away with murder.
“Nobody fears the Government and when the criminals can do what they’re doing, they are fearless and ruthless. The length of time it takes for justice to be served, the criminals are saying I am protected, I am guarded I have food. They are getting the right to do what they want to do. The law of the jungle is prevailing,” Morris said.
He said Government was not carrying out the mandate that God has given them, noting that although the system was in place justice was delayed and criminal activity was allowed to continue.
Attorney Anand Ramlogan said while those who had disregard for the sanctity and value of another human life deserved the severest punishment, he could not support execution because the justice system was fallible.
“With the advent of DNA testing, several executed persons have been declared innocent so that the imperfect legal system was guilty of taking an innocent life,” he said.
Ramlogan said there was no empirical proof that the resumption of hangings could effectively prevent crime in TT.
“In any event I find execution is too quick and too easy a punishment. I favour the creation of a work programme whereby condemned prisoners can plant crops and be paid compensation for their efforts which, by law, must be given to the survivors of the murder.
“Execution does not solve the problems of fatherless children whose lives are wrecked with no income or sense of direction and purpose. Such an idea might assist in the rehabilitation of the prisoner and help people cope with the disaster in a tangible way,” Ramlogan said.
Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday said the law regarding hanging must be changed to fit the crime.
He said the function of the law represented two things – it must reflect the people and must be the choice of the people.
“The law in Trinidad and Tobago is that once someone is convicted of murder, execution is mandatory. There is no choice.
“Let’s say I cuff a man and he falls and hits his head and because he has a thin skull, he dies because of the blow. Now when I cuff him I may have hit him in retribution for something, but not to kill him. I will hang the same as a drug lord who would have planned and lain in wait to kill me and family, and that is not fair,” Panday said.
He said there must be degrees of murder, as was done in the United States and the United Kingdom.
“We must change the law to degrees of murder and capital punishment must be for first degree murder. The British had punishment for six degrees of murder. The court process can be very misleading and can be very unfair. The law must be changed,” Panday said.
Director of the Center of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Professor Ramesh Deosaran, said the overriding challenge facing this Government was the extent to which the Privy Council should make public policy over and above the country’s executive elected through the will of the people.
Deosaran said the status of the death penalty had become a grave frustration to the population at large, and in a democratic society such as TT, the people would expect the Government to manage the wishes of the majority.
He said those opposed to the death penalty and want it abolished should go to the people and argue their case.
“Those who speak of forgiveness should understand that forgiveness does have a place, but they must also consider the grief and bitter desperation felt by the families and related victims of those who suffer horrible, brutal deaths at the hands of seemingly heartless criminals,” Deosaran said.
He added that the rights of victims must be respected, and in certain cases victims should be allowed to have a say in the sentencing of the accused.
Deosaran said the death penalty issue raised serious questions as to what the Government was doing with the Sentencing Commission Act which was passed in 2001.
“In modern jurisprudence, there should be different degrees of punishment,” Deosaran said
Attorney and deputy political leader of the Congress of the People, Prakash Ramadhar, said while the law of the land must be respected, he was worried that Government would use the issue of hanging as a political tool.
“Whether it would curb crime I am not certain. Violence is something that society never welcomes, whether it comes from the citizenry or the State.
“There must be a balance for those who deliberately harm citizens and the law must be able to work,” Ramadhar said.
He said there was failure over a period of time to effectively detect and prosecute criminal acts, and his party did not want Government to use the resumption of hangings as a possible “knee jerk” reaction against crime.
