Group fights for end of death penalty in Caribbean

The newly-constituted campaign group Greater Caribbean for Life continues its call for Caribbean countries that retain the death penalty to abolish it.

T&T's Leela Ramdeen who is well known for her work with the Catholic Commission for Social Justice holds the chair.

The organisation claims that tackling crime can be achieved without the enforcement of the death penalty, even though statistics show that murders in the Caribbean have increased in the past decade.

T&T and Barbados are said to be the only english-speaking Caribbean countries that retain the mandatory death penalty for murder.

To mark the observance of World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10, the delegation of the European Union brought together its members at the National Academy for the Performing Arts on Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain, for the viewing of a film on the topic.

Earlier this year, it hosted a conference titled Delivering on the Death Penalty.

Greater Caribbean for Life representatives from 12 Caribbean countries earlier this month gathered in Port-of-Spain to debate the issue in the context of public security.

The meeting concluded with the adoption of a formal constitution of the Greater Caribbean for Life, an organisation that comprises individuals and organisations from the across the region.

The goal of the campaign group is to achieve the permanent abolition of capital punishment in every Caribbean state and the creation of a culture of respect for the right to life and the inherent dignity of all human beings.

Source: Trinidad Guardian, October 17, 2013

Trinidad & Tobago: AG proposes categories for murder

Government is considering introducing categories of murder as it seeks to strengthen laws which deal with such crimes, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said on Thursday last as he met with a delegation from Amnesty International (AI).

Also discussed at last Thursday's meeting were mutual concerns of protection and preservation of human rights, police brutality and the need for improved efficiency in the criminal justice system.

According to a statement from the Office of the Attorney General, the issue of the death penalty was discussed and while Ramlogan pointed out that the death penalty was part of the laws of Trinidad and Tobago he advised that significant attempts were being made by the Government to improve the current law by introducing categories of murder. He said the death penalty would be reserved for the most heinous of murders without any extenuating circumstances. According to Ramlogan, legislation on the categorisation of murder had been rejected when taken to Parliament due to a lack of support from the Opposition.

According to the statement, the AG agreed that there was a greater need for public awareness or a public education campaign on the very emotional and sensitive issue of the death penalty, which he said the majority of the population appeared to support.

He urged the delegation to consider the rights of the victims as part of their deliberations and discussions to ensure that it is properly factored into the agenda for the abolition of the death penalty.

The Attorney General told the visiting AI delegation while many positive studies have been made for the protection and preservation of human rights, he said there was room for improvement. The AI team was led by Chiara Sangiorgio and the meeting was held at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.

Also present at the meeting were newly appointed chairperson of the Greater Caribbean for Life, Leela Ramdeen and attorney Nicole Sylvester, Assistant Secretary of the Greater Caribbean for Life and president of the Human Rights Association in St Vincent.

The meeting was part of Amnesty's promotion of International Awareness for World Day against the death penalty, which will be commemorated this Thursday with special focus on the Caribbean region.

Source: Newsday, October 7, 2013

The global fight to end capital punishment

The death penalty is a shameful legacy of colonialism – now British lawyers are fighting to abolish it around the world by representing condemned prisoners in court.

"If we needed to hang someone tomorrow," Martin Martinez, Trinidad and Tobago's commissioner of prisons, says, grinning wolfishly, "we would grease up the gallows and buy some new rope." Death by hanging is the penalty for anyone convicted of murder in Trinidad and Tobago, although no one has been executed here since 1999.

From his air-conditioned office, minutes from the cemetery in the capital, Port of Spain, Martinez reels off the four witnesses needed: a doctor, a priest, a court official and himself, the prisons commissioner. "It is traumatising to take a man's life," he explains. "It's an emotional issue, as there is such a high murder rate here. The death penalty sends a message, but it may or may not solve the problem."

Prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, backed by former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, who is now her minister for works and transport, is campaigning for enforcement of the death penalty to fight the "the tsunami of crime" that has hit Trinidad and Tobago. In Jamaica, which has one of the world's highest murder rates, there is also a growing clamour for the rope to be used.

The debate is close to boiling point in the English-speaking Caribbean, partly because it plays on one of the few remaining links to Britain colonialism. The fate of those on death row is currently decided more than 4,000 miles away, in Westminster, at the judicial committee of the privy council (JCPC). "We talk about independence, meaning a flag and an anthem," Martinez says, "but we need to sever the umbilical cord with the mother country."

The JCPC remains the highest court of appeal for 27 countries, including former Caribbean colonies, and the persuasiveness of a British campaign to abolish capital punishment – argued through successive cases – has prevented many islands from carrying out punishments that remain on their statute books.

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Source: The Guardian, May 6, 2012

Britain says it will continue to work with the Caribbean to abolish death penalty

The British government says it will continue to work with a number of countries including those in the Caribbean to abolish the death penalty. 

In its newly released “Human Rights and Democracy Report” the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said that the United Kingdom’s long-standing policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances remains as a matter of principle. 

“We consider that its use undermines human dignity, that there is no conclusive evidence that it has any value as a deterrent, and that any miscarriage of justice is irreversible and irreparable. Global abolition of the death penalty continues to be a priority for the UK Government. 

“The international trend towards abolition of the death penalty was maintained in 2011 and we are keen to see this trend continue,” the FCO said in its newly released report, noting that in October last year, the government published an updated Strategy for Abolition of the Death Penalty, setting out its “three goals to support our overarching objective of global abolition of the death penalty”. 

It said among the goals are to increase the number of abolitionist countries, or countries with a moratorium on the use of the death penalty and ensure that the European Union (EU) minimum standards on the death penalty, such as fair trial rights and non-execution of juveniles, are met in countries which retain the death penalty. 

“Following careful review, our priority countries - China, the US, Belarus, Commonwealth Caribbean and Iran - remain the same, London said, adding that it has raised the death penalty bilaterally with a number of our priority countries at both official and ministerial level, including Japan, the Commonwealth Caribbean, Belarus and Singapore. 

London said that it would continue to work with the European Union Commission to improve the effectiveness of the various strategies against the death penalty in 2012. 

“We believe that the UK has most directly impacted on progress towards global abolition of the death penalty through our project work,” adding that through the United Nations “we continued to raise the death penalty in the Universal Periodic Review process, and encouraged countries including Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore and Antigua to formally establish moratoriums on the use of the death penalty with a view to abolition. 

“In 2012, we will continue to implement our strategy and its 3 goals. We will work hard to ensure that the biennial UN General Assembly Resolution on the Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty again achieves record support, as it did in 2010. This will truly reinforce the international trend towards global abolition,” it added. 

Source: Jamaica Observer, May 2, 2012

Trinidad and Tobago: Hangings could resume

HERALDING what she described as “a new dawn in this country’s legal history”, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday announced her Government’s intention to table a bill to make the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) this country’s final criminal court, replacing the Privy Council’s criminal jurisdiction and in the process possibly clearing the way for the resumption of the death penalty.

The move to the CCJ as the final criminal court, which would require a special majority in the Parliament, yesterday looked set for a clear path toward implementation after Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley and senior members of the Independent benches of the Senate indicated their support in principle. The Government needs Opposition and Independent bench support in order to pass special majority legislation.

In a special statement in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, the Prime Minister expressed “immeasurable pride” at the move towards the CCJ but was careful to point out that the country would still maintain the civil jurisdiction of the Privy Council in a move to preserve investor confidence in the system of commercial litigation.

“In this year as we celebrate our 50th anniversary of independence this year, the time has surely come for us to review our relationship with the Privy Council,” Persad-Bissessar said.

“I am pleased to announce that the Government will be bringing legislation to this Honourable House to secure the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council in all criminal matters so that this jurisdiction would then be ceded to the Caribbean Court of Justice,” she told MPs gathered at the International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

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Source: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, April 26, 2012

Related article:

Trinidad wants to withdraw from Britain's Privy Council

Apr 27, 2012

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the government will submit legislation to parliament to abolish appeals to the London-based Privy Council, the final court of appeal for former and current British territories in the ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Trinidad wants to withdraw from Britain's Privy Council

Trinidad and Tobago plans to stop sending appeals in criminal cases to Britain's Privy Council, a move that could make it easier for death sentences to be carried out in the Caribbean country.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the government will submit legislation to parliament to abolish appeals to the London-based Privy Council, the final court of appeal for former and current British territories in the Caribbean.

The jurisdiction of the Privy Council in criminal appeals is "a matter of grave concern," Persad-Bissessar told parliament late on Wednesday, adding it "affects the dispensation of criminal justice at a time of high crime in our country."

"The situation has been complicated by the issue of the death penalty on which the Privy Council, reflecting contemporary English mores and jurisprudence, has been rigorous in upholding Caribbean appeals in death sentence cases," she said.

A former British colony, Trinidad and Tobago has faced criticism from human rights groups over its use of executions for some violent crimes. Capital punishment, however, enjoys wide support among Trinidadians who view it as a crime deterrent.

The energy rich, twin-island country is battling a high murder rate. Police say it is linked to drug trafficking in Trinidad and Tobago, a trans-shipment point for South American cocaine headed to Europe and the United States.

Last year, Persad-Bissessar imposed a four-month state of emergency to crack down on drug-related crime and gang activity.

Under the proposed legislation, appeals in criminal cases would be handled by the Caribbean Court of Justice - based in Port of Spain and now the final court of appeal for several Caribbean countries.

The last execution held in Trinidad and Tobago was in 1999 and involved a man found guilty of murdering a taxi driver. Earlier that year, nine members of a criminal gang were hanged for murder.

Source: Reuters, April 26, 2012

Trinidad and Tobago: Government working to implement death penalty

January 22, 2012: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says Government will work to implement the death penalty in Trinidad as part of a serious crime reduction tool.

Persad-Bissessar was delivering an address yesterday at the Ministry of National Security Planning Workshop organised by the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS) yesterday at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad) hotel, Port of Spain.

With 30 murders in the first 21 days of the year, she said Government is aware of the upsurge in the homicide rate although it has been reduced significantly from 2009 to 2011.

“Despite the fact the statistics for 2011 reveal a decrease in homicide and serious crime, Government is appalled at the brutal nature of the crime. The cautious optimism with which we viewed last year’s statistics…should not be misinterpreted as complacency,” she said.

She said because of this the People’s Partnership government is prepared to use all the resources including the death penalty to vigorously pursue and contain criminal activity.

“To this end my government is committed to implementation of the death penalty which remains part of the laws of Trinidad and Tobago… We shall continue in our effort to facilitate the re-implementation of the death penalty so it might both punish the guilty and deter the would-be offenders,” she stated.

She said regrettably the Constitution Capital Offences Bill 2011 which required a special majority in Parliament did not receive the support of some members.

She said her Government that had introduced 11 other pieces of legislation to aid in combating, including the Abolishing of the Preliminary Enquiry Act, the DNA Bill among others.

Persad-Bissessar said since her Government took office back in May 2010, it had been attempting to address “the tsunami of crime that has hit Trinidad and Tobago”.

“We have pledged to the people of this country that we are going to rid the country the scourge of criminal elements which have been allowed for too long to thrive and prosper on the decent, innocent and hard-working people,” she said.

She added that the Government was compelled to admit that criminal violence occurred too regularly.

Earlier in her address, Persad-Bissessar crime and violence threatened the welfare of citizens and economic growth.

Minister of National Security John Sandy said the workshop was aimed at developing a policy where the Caribbean Basin becomes a safer and more secure place to work, live and do business.

Attending the workshop were United States Ambassador Beatrice Welters, Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs and various Government MPs.

Source: Trinidad Express, January 22, 2012

Hanging bill defeated in Trinidad and Tobago

Government has been unsuccessful in its attempt to pass The Constitutional (Amendment) (Capital Offences) Bill, 2011.

The vote on the death penalty amendment was taken around 2:40pm today in the House of Representatives.

29 voted in favour and 11 voted against. There were no abstentions.

To be enacted, the Bill needed a special majority of 31 votes.

The government had made 2 concessions in the hope of winning the Opposition's support.

Earlier today, Minister of Legal Affairs, Prakash Ramadhar said if the PNM voted against the bill, the government will attempt to correct the faults, as outlined by the Opposition, and bring the bill later.

The bill can only resurface in the House after 6 months.

Source: ctntworld.com, March 1, 2011

Conscience vote on death penalty

The Constitution Amendment (Capital Offences) Bill, better known as the Hanging Bill, was defeated yesterday in the Lower House. The Opposition PNM refused to give the necessary support that the Bill, requiring a 3/4 majority to become law.

It speaks volumes about our political culture that both the People's Partnership and the PNM support the death penalty, yet were unable to come to agreement on this legislation. The PNM has insisted that the Bill is flawed and would not achieve its purpose of speeding up executions. Although the Government removed its major amendment, which created categories of homicide to replace the mandatory death penalty for any kind of murder, this failed to persuade the Opposition.

Since opinion surveys have consistently shown that the majority of citizens support capital punishment, the Government may want to try again and see if there can be a meeting of minds between itself and the Opposition on this contentious issue. PNM leader Keith Rowley had refused to even meet with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar before the vote was taken, which seems rather myopic since politics is about compromise and listening to opposing views. On the other hand, the Government did not exactly use diplomatic language in its bid to woo the Opposition, even going so far as to accuse the other side of being happy about the crime situation.

Politicians on both sides of the House would also do well to pay attention to public opinion on resuming executions, since one survey carried out last year suggests that, despite the extremist calls of some individuals who want to see criminals hanged in the public square, the majority of citizens have more nuanced views than politicians give them credit for. An opinion survey carried out in 2010 by Oxford University professor Roger Hood and Trinidadian psychologist Florence Seemungal found that almost two-thirds of the populace favour a discretionary death penalty rather than a mandatory one. That implies that the Opposition PNM lost political points by insisting on the removal of this clause, as did the Government by acceding.

It is also noteworthy that only one-third of citizens would continue supporting capital punishment if there was any possibility of innocent persons being executed. This means that building trust in the Police Service and the judiciary is essential. Politicians, particularly on the Government side, may also not want to ignore the findings of another poll carried out last month by UWI's Psychological Research Centre, which reported an ethnic difference in the level of support for hanging. This poll found that 86 percent of Indo-Trinidadians supported the death penalty, as compared to just 64 percent of Afro-Trinidadians. That alone could create political tension if and when hangings are resumed.

Given such caveats, both sides may want to consider lifting the party whip on this emotive issue, and allow a conscience vote. That may at least raise the level of debate in the House.

Source: Trinidad Express, March 1, 2011
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Trinidad and Tobago urged to stop drive towards executions

Amnesty International has urged members of Trinidad and Tobago's parliament to vote against a constitutional amendment Bill which would allow executions to be resumed in the country.

Under the proposed Bill, scheduled to be debated on 18 February, courts across the country would be able to circumvent judicial rulings that enhanced human rights protection and resulted in a halt to executions in 1999.

Authorities in the Caribbean nation claim carrying out executions is a way to tackle rising numbers of murders and deter others from committing violent crime.

"Trinidad and Tobago has a real problem with murder and violent crimes, but experience has shown that facilitating executions is not the solution," said Chiara Liguori, researcher on Trinidad and Tobago at Amnesty International.

"Hurrying executions or ignoring appeals already in progress violates defendants' rights by denying them due process guaranteed under international law.

"The proposed Bill would allow people to be executed even if they were appealing against their sentence, which is their right."

"We urge Parliament not to accept the proposed Bill and instead tackle the root causes of violent crime and reform the police and justice systems."

"What may seem a technical change in the Constitution is in fact a matter of life and death for many people."

More than 40 people are currently on death row in Trinidad and Tobago.

In 1984, the United Nations' Economic and Social Council said an execution should not be carried out if there's any appeal or recourse procedure pending on the case.

The new Bill would circumvent this principle and allow for expedited executions.

Currently, under a ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, acting as the highest court in the country, any execution carried out five years after the original sentence constitutes torture, which is illegal under the country's Constitution.

The lengthy appeals process for death penalty cases means that, in practice, no executions are able to be carried out within the five year period and most sentences have been commuted to prison terms.

But Amnesty International says the proposed Bill will ignore that ruling and make the constitution inconsistent with human rights.

We are extremely concerned that the New Bill would allow for someone to be executed within a short period after a sentence is passed, not allowing for proper appeals and that others could be kept on death row for years on end," said Chiara Liguori.

The prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has been reported as referring to the death penalty as a "weapon in [our] arsenal" to fight the murder rate.

She is quoted on her Facebook website as saying: The Government that I have the honour to lead will ensure that this law is implemented and convicted murderers must suffer and pay the ultimate price by having the sentence of death carried out."

The country is one of 93 countries in the world which retains the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

Even though death sentences have continued to be handed out in Trinidad and Tobago, no executions have been carried out since 1999.

Source: Amnesty International, Feb. 16, 2011

URGENT ACTION APPEAL - From Amnesty International USA

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO -- Dozens of People on Death Row

On 18 February the Congress of Trinidad and Tobago will debate changes to the constitution that could put dozens of people on death row in immediate danger of execution. The new legislation is aimed at resuming executions, which have not taken place in the country since 1999.

On 14 January 2011, Trinidad and Tobago’s government, led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, submitted a Bill for approval by the Parliament aimed at reforming the Constitution in relation to the implementation of the death penalty. The Bill is scheduled to be debated on 18 February, and the law could be implemented in the following weeks. Amnesty International is concerned that the adoption of the Bill, as currently drafted, will put dozens of people currently on death row at serious risk of being executed in violation of international human rights laws and standards.

The Bill would enable death sentences to be carried out while appeals before international bodies are pending. In particular, it will give power to the President of posing time-restrictions for individuals under sentence of death to appeal, consult, communicate and conclude appeal with any person or body of persons outside Trinidad and Tobago. After the time limits ends, executions could be carried out even if the appeal has not been concluded. Implementing a death sentence while an appeal is pending is against international human rights standards related to the due process of law.

The Bill would also permit authorities to circumvent a 1993 ruling by the highest court of appeal for Trinidad and Tobago, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. This stated that a delay of more than five

years in implementing a death sentence would be cruel and inhuman treatment. If the Bill is passed, people who will be in the future sentenced to death could be executed even if they remain on death row for more than five years.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the desire to resume executions is being presented as a crime-control measure, despite the lack of convincing evidence of the deterrent effect of the death penalty on the crime situation.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Trinidad and Tobago, along with all English speaking Caribbean countries, retains the death penalty. The last executions took place in June and July 1999, when 10 men were hanged. The country has previously executed prisoners who still had legal avenues of appeal available to them. In 1994, Glen Ashby was executed as two courts examined his appeals. One of the courts issued a stay of execution at the same time as the hanging was taking place. On 22 June 1999, Anthony Briggs was executed despite an order, issued on the 25 May 1999, from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights that his life "be preserved until such time as the Court... issues a decision on the matter".

Even though no execution has been carried out since 1999, death sentences have continued to be handed out. The execution of Charles Elroy Laplace in St Kitts and Nevis in December 2008 was the first in the English-speaking Caribbean since 2000. His execution sparked fears that other English-speaking Caribbean nations will follow suit as pressure grows on the region's governments to be seen to be tackling an increase in violent crime.

The jurisprudence of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the court of final appeal for most English-speaking Caribbean nations, and of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have set important standards to regulate the implementation of the death penalty.

Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados are the only English-speaking Caribbean countries which retain mandatory death penalty for murder. However Barbados has pledged to remove the mandatory sentence, as Guyana did it last October 2010. The proposed Bill in Trinidad and Tobago retains the mandatory imposition of the death penalty for certain categories of murders, meaning that sentences of death are not the product of individualized determinations and are imposed without affording the convicted person the opportunity to present mitigating circumstances. The UN Human Rights Committee stated that "the automatic and mandatory imposition of the death penalty constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life". Regional and national jurisdictions have been continuously ruled out the mandatory imposition of the death penalty.

Trinidad and Tobago suffers from high levels of violent crime -- there were 472 reported homicides in 2010 and already 46 murders are reported just for January 2011. Scientific studies have consistently found no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments. Given the low conviction rate in Trinidad and Tobago, the emphasis should instead be put on improving the capacities of the police to detect and solve crimes, on the implementation of an effective witness protection programme and the implementation of effective measures tackling the root causes of crime and violence.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The organization recognizes the duty of governments to tackle violent crime but believes that the death penalty is by nature ineffective and arbitrary, and is not an effective deterrent to crime. The application of death penalty inevitably leads to inconsistencies and errors, inescapable flaws which are exacerbated by discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct and inadequate legal representation. It brutalizes those involved in the process of executions and wider society as a whole. The organization believes that the rise in crime affecting much of the Caribbean will only be solved by addressing urgent reforms to police and justice systems and by implementing effective measures tackling the root causes of crime and violence, not with state killings.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

- Asking the Head of the ruling party and the Leader of the opposition to instruct the Members of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago to reject the proposed amendment to the Constitution, contained in the Constitution (Amendment) (Capital Offenses) Act, 2011, as it would enable executions in violation of international human rights laws and standards;

- Reminding them that there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime;

- Calling on them to ensure that all people on death row are not executed;

- Calling, pending abolition, to immediately remove all provisions in national law which are in breach of international human rights law and standards, in particular by abolishing all provisions which provide for mandatory death sentences.

APPEALS TO:

Head of the ruling party

The Honourable Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Office of the Prime Minister

13 - 15 St. Clair Avenue, St. Clair

Port of Spain,

Trinidad and Tobago

Fax: 011 868 622 0055

Email: opm@ttgov.gov

Salutation: Dear Prime Minister

Leader of the opposition

The Honourable Dr. Keith Rowley

Parliament

Red House P.O. Box 878

Port of Spain,

Trinidad and Tobago

Fax: 011 868 625 4672

Email: webmaster@ttparliament.org; administration@ttparliament.org

Salutation:Dear Sir

COPIES TO:

President of the Senate

Senator the Hon. Timothy Hamel-Smith

Parliament

Red House P.O. Box 878

Port of Spain,

Trinidad and Tobago

Fax: 011 868 625 4672

Email: timothyhamel@timothyhamel.com

administration@ttparliament.org

Ambassador Glenda Patricia Morean-Phillip

Embassy of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

1708 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington DC 20036

Fax: 1 202 785 3130

Email: info@ttembwash.com

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

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New moves to implement death penalty in Trinidad

Determined to deal with the escalating murders in the country, the 8-month-old People's Partnership coalition has announced new legislation to amend the Trinidad and Tobago Constitution in order to facilitate the implementation of the death penalty.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, whose administration has the required parliamentary special majority to ensure passage of the new legislation, told legislators it was necessary to adopt a tough stance on murders since "in every tear shed by relatives of every murder victim there is a desperate cry for justice.

"Mothers have lost their sons and daughters, children are left motherless and fatherless. Homes left without incomes, families destroyed and forced into poverty and worse," she said, adding that "the war on crime cannot be won unless we use every weapon in our arsenal."

According to government statistics, 3, 335 murders have been committed here during the period 2002-2010. There are 42 persons on death row.

The government insists that the death penalty was and remains the law of the land and that the proposed legislation does not introduce any new penalty that did not previously exist.

"It simply seeks to plug some of the loop holes that have been exploited and manipulated by murderers who have been properly convicted and sentenced to death according to law," the Prime Minister said.

Caribbean countries have long complained that rulings by the London-based Privy Council, the final court for some regional countries, have made it much more difficult to carry out the death penalty.

"Any new legislation relating to the implementation of the death penalty that is not protected by the savings clause of the Constitution or the Constitution itself is likely to be quashed without dissent by the Privy Council. These provisions therefore need to be included in the Constitution, which is the supreme law of Trinidad and Tobago," the government said.

The last state execution took place in 1999 and the government may find that it still faces an uphill task executing another convicted murderer.

Social activist Verna St Rose-Greaves, a strong anti-capital punishment advocate, said there is need for an ongoing, informed and sustained debate on this issue.

"I think that we have not even scratched the surface on human rights far less for death penalty. Our crime situation is horrendous and citizens are fearful, angry and concerned. At this time they may not be as open to education on the issue. "

"But it is in difficult times and situations that the mettle of good leadership is tested. Sometimes we must not do what may be popular but what is right and in the best interest of our society," she told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), adding "the crime situation is where it is because so many of us have walked away from our history, our humanity, our responsibility, our caring and our commitment to nation building.".

Source: Jamaica Observer, January 23, 2011

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Trinidad and Tobago: "Hangings won't solve crime"

Social worker and former People's Partnership activist, Verna St Rose-Greaves has broken her silence on moves by the Government to amend the Constitution to allow for the resumption of hangings in T&T. 

St Rose-Greaves, in an interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, said last Friday's announcement of fresh moves to execute condemned murderers was "perhaps to take attention away from the pending state of emergency because my sense is that a state of emergency is coming, which is a whole other drama that I don't know that the population is prepared to deal with." 

St Rose-Greaves, who indicated she initially didn't want to speak about the move, said her change of heart was triggered by a violent attack on her on the streets on Monday. She said she was assaulted by a citizen who was in support of the resumption of hangings in T&T. "Yesterday a man actually found himself pointing a finger and his hand in my face. All of this is frightening, especially as so many people are doing this in the name of God." She said she suspected that "before long somebody is going to dare to put their hands on me and that’s not something that I would want to happen. That would be very unfortunate." 

St Rose-Greaves said previously attempts were made to "run me off the road" because of her known objections to the imposition of the death penalty. She said the PP Government must be very careful because "when you start whipping up that kind of frenzy in people (whose expectations are already high) and when you talk about the Constitution amendment and then you don’t deliver... because I suspect there is not going to be delivery, this thing is not going to happen and at the same time there are other things we need to look at that we are not doing." 

St Rose-Greaves said there remained the need for "ongoing, informed and sustained debate on this issue. We need to talk about the plan, the pain, the anger and victim support." She said she was aware of the pain people felt when their loved ones were murdered. "And unless we are prepared to sit down in calm and with respect and address those issues, we’re heading for more trouble," she warned. St Rose-Greaves said all politicians in T&T were guilty of embracing the criminal element to secure political power. 

"They walk with us, they're our friends and rather than take the opportunity to move them away from that kind of lifestyle, we hold on to them so that we could get power and then, as soon as it becomes convenient, or we become afraid of them because they are now making demands that we can't meet, we start to talk about hanging and getting rid of them," she added. St Rose-Greaves said the murder rate escalated every time there was talk about the resumption of hangings "because you’re feeding something that you cannot control. 

"So we have to really consider the things that we are saying, the things that we are doing, the ways that we are saying it and the people that we are doing it to. "The death penalty is about taking away our humanity," she insisted. She added that while many countries have either abolished the death penalty or were moving to abolish it "we are prepared to treat with the end. We are not prepared to go to the root." St Rose-Greaves said the crime problem did not escalate overnight and it would not be solved overnight by the imposition of hangings. 

In response to a claim by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar that millions have been spent on crime to no avail, she said that was so because it was not spent on the right remedies. She said: "We do not have the interlocking devices that we need. We do not have the database and the monitoring and evaluation systems that would measure where the gains, losses were and where the challenges were." St Rose Greaves said part of the solution to the problem involved working with children to ensure the right values were instilled in them from young. 

She listed other remedies: 

•Address the sexuality issue in the country; 

• Teach human rights awareness; 

•Set up drug interdiction centres; 

• Establish intervention centres for families; and, 

•Develop safe and proper child care measures. 

Source: The Guardian, January 19, 2011

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Trinidad and Tobago: The debate on hanging

THE LAST time the death penalty was carried out in Trinidad and Tobago, it was not a single event but a series of executions carried out over four days in June and July of 1999. That was when ten men, Dole Chadee and members of his criminal gang, were hanged for the murder of one of their alleged associates and his family.

More hangings followed on July 28, 1999, when Anthony Briggs and Wenceslaus James were hanged.

The events sparked major controversy locally and abroad, with criticisms from several international agencies and individuals lobbying for the abolition of the death penalty. The outcry was especially strident in the case of James who had an appeal pending before the Organisation of American States (OAS) at the time of his execution.

When those executions were carried out, Basdeo Panday was Prime Minister, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj was Attorney General and Kamla Persad-Bissessar, now this country’s Prime Minister, was Legal Affairs Minister.

Now with calls for the resumption of hangings, led by Works and Transport Minister Austin Jack Warner, this country is once again caught up in the emotive and contentious debate about capital punishment.

As Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar pointed out at last week’s post-Cabinet briefing, death by hanging as punishment for murder is the law in this country. That has been the case since 1925 under the Offences Against the Person Act which stipulates death by hanging as the only applicable punishment for the crime of murder.

According to Section 4 of the Offences Against the Person Act (Chapter 11:08) “Every person convicted of murder shall suffer death” and the Criminal Procedure Act (Chapter 12:02) in section 57 provides: “(1) Every warrant for the execution of any prisoner under sentence of death shall be under the hand and seal of the President, and shall be directed to the Marshal, and shall be carried into execution by such Marshal or his assistant at such time and place as mentioned in the warrant; and the warrant shall be in the form set out as Form A in the Second Schedule …”

Form A states that the person involved has been sentenced to be “hanged by the neck until he be dead”. The President of the Republic, in signing the warrant, authorises the execution in that manner.

However, while hanging is still legal in this country, recent calls for the death penalty to be enforced come at a time when there is a strong global movement for its abolition. In fact, the movement for the abolition of capital punishment began as far back as the 18th century with the writings of Montesquieu and Voltaire and has been gaining momentum since then.

However, the English-speaking Caribbean has remained largely unaffected by that abolitionist trend. In December 2008, this country along with Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, voted against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions. The English-speaking Caribbean made up almost a quarter of the countries who voted against the resolution.

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Source: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, Sept. 6, 2010