During the last few years many Caribbean governments have reintroduced the death penalty. Some of them really believe that the death penalty leads to a reduction of crime, while others see it as a means of curry favoring with the masses who are obviously tired of being victims of criminals. The recent exchanges between human rights activists, attorneys and governments in Trinidad, Guyana and the Bahamas have served to highlight this burning issue.
This death penalty issue is not as easy as some people have made it out to be. Those who take the moral position that its evil and wicked to execute someone regardless of the crime he or she commits must endure. To say that "tit for tat" is not a decent way of thinking is not enough. One must also take into consideration that the need for retribution is a tempting human need, especially when a loved one is a hapless victim one feels vulnerable in the situation.
The big question here is how can you say to a society besieged by marauding criminals that the death penalty is evil. When criminals rob innocent people of their belongings and then senselessly murder them or when young men just "shoot up" because they feel like killing someone, they make a mockery of human rights. I am an opponent of the death penalty but I would never lend my voice to help secure mercy for such persons. True the death penalty has not helped to ease the crime situation. But the issue for the frightened masses is not just reduction of crime, but retribution for violent crimes committed against them. That's why in in the Bahamas people sang and danced in celebration of the recent hanging there.
But there is something else to that rejoicing. It says something about how numb to violence the society has become -- you see violent crimes affect the culture-of society, it consumes both the perpetrators and the victims. Everybody wants blood. While I understand the thirst for retribution in the form of official execution, I cannot endorse rejoicing at the loss of life even if that person has committed a crime. We cannot allow ourselves to sink to such depths.
It seems to me that those of us who bother to see the larger issue of human rights defeat the nobility of our purposes when we wait until someone is about to be hanged to raise our voices. Those voices get lost in the collective indignation of the people who at the time are not in the mood for human rights talk. The task of death penalty activists therefore, must be to put our energies into trying to create a world that is less hospitable to violence. That's an enormous task but its less contentious they try to save the life of criminals who commit heinous crimes.
There is another aspect to be considered - how it can be used in a racial and political manner. In the case of the USA there is more than enough evidence that the death penalty has been used disproportionately against blacks. It is also true that given the social and economic state of the black community, it is more prone to crime and violence. Therefore, our support for the death penalty must bear in mind - what happens when you support the death penalty and your son, husband, brother is mistakenly charged with the murder of a white person and ends up on death row? Imagine the black man arrested in North Carolina after the Smith woman reported that a black man had killed her children could have ended up in death row and we shout "Hang the so and so!" Imagine that Arnold Rampersaud could have ended up on the gallows in Guyana in a racially/politically motivated charge. Remember that in many books in the Caribbean the penalty for Treason is hanging and think about how governments are willing to institute such charges to stem the tide of dissent - Guyana alone had two such charges over the last 15 years.
So even as we look for ways to deal with violent crimes and even as we welcome the hangman's noose as a clear signal to the criminals, our entire society is compromised. There must be other ways to rid our society of wanton violence. A war between death penalty advocates and opponents will not help the situation. Both sides have legitimate arguments, but the health of the society needs more than doses of morality and' human rights talk and "death to the criminals" syndrome. Think in a personal way about how you would feel if the murderer of your wife, mother, daughter or son was about to be hanged. Would you think about human rights then? Then close your eyes again and think how you would feel if your son was charged with a murder he did not commit or if your daughter or son killed someone in self defense and was about to be hanged. This matter is not so cut and dry as we think.
As I prepare to conclude this article, it has been brought to my attention that in the PPP Human- Rights -Abuse -Free Guyana, 19 University of Guyana students have been arrested by the police after the latter violently broke up a peaceful demonstration at the entrance of the university. All I can say is SHAME. Only a few weeks ago I lauded the PPP administration in this column for cutting out the police abuse of the PNC days.
Ironically in Washington DC this past week students at the University of the District of Columbia blocked the street in protest against proposed cuts in the school's budget. The police turned up but did not wield their batons. The Mayor and other city officials turned up at the protest and lent solidarity to the students. By the next day, the student's immediate demands were met. In Guyana students blocked the streets to protest a 70% cut in the school's budget and intolerable conditions at the University. The police moved in and physically broke up the demonstration. Dr. Jagan promises to meet the students after they were beaten. In Washington the Mayor ordered the police to lay off the students. Who is the leader and who the coward? Who is the friend of students and who don't mind police brutality?
The government that boasts that it started UG is now presiding over the rapid demise of the institution as a place of learning and the beating of its students. What a turn! When a country declares war on its educational institutions, it declares war on its own advise as a nation. UG students suffered beatings during the PNC days and the PPP protested. Now the PPP is trying hard to outdo its predecessors. This beating coming on the heels of the beating of WPA activists last year signals something rotten in Guyana. Dr. Jagan, if you do not stop this slide, trouble will come to Guyana. Mark my words.