By Garwin Davis, Assistant News Editor
Maria Carla Gullotta, co-ordinator for Amnesty International, Jamaica (left), Delbert Tibbs, a former death row inmate in Florida (centre), and Dennis Daly, attorney-at-law and vice-chairman of the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights, respond to questions from reporters at an Amnesty International press conference in New Kingston yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
SAYING THE death penalty is no more a deterrent to crime than extra judicial killings have been, Amnesty International has vowed to step up its pressure on the Jamaican Government to abolish hanging.
Speaking to reporters yesterday at a press conference at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston, representatives of the international human rights group said the Government's proposed legislation to amend the constitution, so as to make the resumption of hanging easier, was ill-conceived and should be reconsidered.
"Anytime you think about the death penalty you also have to think about mistakes being made," said Maria Carla Gullotta, co-ordinator for Amnesty International, Jamaica. "Jamaica has a problem with crime and violence ... we understand that. We are not supporting criminals or their actions ... we are saying it's possible to achieve an objective without having to resort to hanging."
Ms. Gullotta said it was clear that the 50 people currently on death row have had no bearing on the crime wave engulfing the island, an even clearer indication, she added, that the death penalty was not a serious deterrent to crime.
Recently, Cabinet instructed the Chief Parliamentary Counsel to prepare legislation related to the resumption of hanging. Such legislation, the Government argued, would make it possible to bypass recent rulings of the United Kingdom-based Privy Counsel which, it claimed, had prevented the death penalty from being carried out.
Delbert Tibbs, a former death row inmate in Florida who now does speaking engagements for Amnesty International, said that as long as the possibility existed that innocent people can be executed, the more the reason why the death penalty should be abolished.
"I spent three years on death row for a crime I did not commit ... I was charged with the heinous crimes of rape and murder," he said.
"Since my release, I have been a relentless abolitionist. Every time someone is executed in the United States the authorities declare that the execution was done in the name of the people. I assume it's the same here. I implore you to look beyond the surface and you will see the truth ... it's the poor, the dispossessed ... those without connections who are on death row.
"When you take a life, that is not closure ... that is revenge. The state should not be about taking revenge ... what kind of example is that to the society on a whole?"
Tibbs, who is black, was convicted in 1974 of raping a white 16-year-old and killing her male companion. Though it was his first brush with the law, and evidence presented by his defence showed he was 225 miles away the day before and after the crime, an all-white jury found him guilty after which he was sentenced to die.
Two years later, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new trial, citing doubts about the rape victim's credibility. In 1982, the charges were dropped by the prosecuting attorney, saying the rape victim was too unreliable.
"There could be other people like me sitting on death row here in Jamaica," Tibbs said. "This is one of the main reasons why I have spent so much time speaking out against the death penalty ... nobody should go through the ordeal I went through."
Tibbs pointed to last year's landmark decision in Illinois, when then outgoing Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentences of all inmates serving time on Illinois' death row. Calling the Governor a man of conviction and great courage, Tibbs said, "The Governor was of the view that, as long as the system was flawed then mistakes could be made ... he didn't want to live with that."
Dennis Daly, attorney-at-law and vice chairman of the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights pulled no punches in his comments. Blasting the Government for what he called their 'spineless' stance on the death penalty, Mr. Daly said they should stand up for convictions rather than pander to political sentiments.
"Governor Ryan's actions contrast greatly with that of the spineless politicians who claim to oppose the death penalty on principle but are afraid to take a stance publicly," he said.
Attorney-General A.J. Nicholson said two weeks ago that the Government was intent on carrying out the death penalty and had seen nothing so far which would change its position. Mr. Nicholson, in the past, has said he was not a supporter of the death penalty on principle.
