The London based Privy Council, the final Appeal Court of several Caribbean nations and also Guyana’s until it was abolished by the tyrant Forbes Burnham, ruled on Monday that the death penalty is not a violation of the constitution of nations where it is the law. Every territory in the region, including Guyana, has the death penalty although it has not been enforced. European countries have done away with the death penalty. (Burnham removed the Privy Council as the final court of appeal to protect his illegal government from challenges; Burnham rigged elections to remain in office).
Nine law lords heard a challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty. The Privy Council ruled that the death penalty is a constitutional challenge. It ruled that the state has a statutory rule which mandates the imposition of a sentence for a crime. The death penalty is a sentence for a capital crime.
Clearly, the death penalty is constitutional as per the court’s ruling. Lawyers I have spoken with have mixed views on the death penalty, but a majority support it. They say it is somewhat of a deterrent against capital crimes or crimes that carry the death penalty as punishment. Unlike other sentences, the death penalty once carried out, cannot be reversed. In the US, innocents were known to be sentenced to a long prison term and even the death penalty. Retrial and or thorough investigation of some convicted felons have been reversed.
If evidence is irreversible, a convict facing the death penalty should have his or her sentence carried out. It is an effective way to make criminals of very serious crimes accountable. There are too many cases of people being slaughtered – crimes of passion, robberies, etc. The death penalty should be enforced once there is no doubt about the conviction.
By Vishnu Bisram
