THE EDITOR, Sir: WORDS CANNOT adequately express our sadness and horror at the tragic loss of so many lives in Jamaica, and our utter revulsion at the recent spate of child murders. We understand the fear, anger and sheer desperation that drive the demand for the immediate resumption of hanging. But we ask those who make such a call to consider its implications.
The pages of the nation's newspapers are replete with calls to "send the men of violence a message". But sending a message can only be effective if those at which it is aimed are willing to hear it. And there is no sign that they are.
Those who engage in cold-blooded murder have no regard for any life - including their own - and simply view the chance of being killed as an occupational hazard. The hanging of others, or the risk that they themselves will be hanged, is of no consequence to them. They simply do not apply the same rationale as those who think capital punishment will frighten the gunmen and others into laying down their weapons.
Moreover, the frequent reprisal killings simply demonstrate how violence leads to more violence, with more lives being lost in the round of "tit for tat". This was recognised by Sharon Thomas who, even in her anguish and grief at the loss of three children to murder, appealed for there to be no retaliation.
Ms. Thomas was rightly praised by Government ministers who attended her children's funeral. Omar Davies reportedly described her as a "heroine", while Portia Simpson Miller said she is a "bearer of the flame for peace in this country".
What a shame, therefore, that the Government plans to join the cycle of violence by resuming state-sanctioned killing. The distasteful American inter-state vying for the chance to put John Lee Malvo to death, if convicted of the sniper murders, is surely proof of the way in which judicial killing adds to the culture of brutality, and demeans all those involved in it.
Virginia finally won that dubious privilege by virtue of being second only to Texas in its zeal to execute adults and juveniles (the minimum age for death penalty eligibility there is 16). It is worth noting that this did not deter the sniper/s.
Jamaicans at home and abroad are concerned about the potential negative repercussions John Lee Malvo's links with their country may have. So these questions need to be asked not just about John Lee Malvo, but about the dysfunctional young men within Jamaica who get involved in violence. For it is only if these questions are asked that solutions can be found. They will not be found by the state stooping to the level of the killers.
I am, etc.,
SHELAGH SIMMONS
Co-ordinator, Caribbean Justice
simmons@carib-justice.freeserve.co.uk
Via Go-Jamaica
