“The death penalty is contrary to the meaning of humanitas and to divine mercy, which should be the model for men’s justice. It implies cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment…As St Ambrose teaches, God did not want to punish Cain for the murder, as He wants the repentance of the sinner, not his death… Justice will never be reached by killing a human being” (Pope Francis, March 20, 2015).
On Saturday, October 10, the world will observe the 13th World Day Against the Death Penalty. The theme this year is Drug Crimes and is aimed at raising awareness of the need to reduce the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences.
I am the Chair of the Greater Caribbean for Life, a regional organisation which was founded in 2013 to work towards the abolition of the death penalty in our region and in the world and to highlight ways in which the needs of victims can be met. We encourage governments to address the root causes of crime and adopt the recommendations contained in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2012 report “Human Development and the shift to better citizen security.”
The UNDP urges governments in the region to strive to achieve “a better balance between legitimate law enforcement and preventive measures, with a stronger focus on prevention” and to invest more, for example, in youth development, job creation and reducing poverty and socio-economic inequality/inequity. These strategies can contribute to a safer and more democratic and just society in the region.
Worldwide, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. However, the World Coalition notes: “Running against the abolitionist worldwide movement, many countries added the death penalty for drug crimes in their legal system between 1980 and 2000. This trend is going down today; however, in some countries, drug crimes are the main cause of death sentences and executions…33 countries and territories retain the death penalty for drug crimes.”
On March 20, 2015, Vatican radio reported on Pope Francis’ unequivocal message to members of the International Commission against the Death Penalty (ICDP) who met with him. His letter, addressed to ICDP President Federico Mayor, is worth reading. Pope Francis made it clear that there is no justification for the death penalty today. It is “inadmissible regardless of how serious the crime…The death penalty goes against the right to life and the dignity of a human being. The death penalty does not bring justice to the victims but it promotes vengeance.”
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As Philippa Hitchin reported, he thanked those who worked tirelessly for a universal moratorium, with the goal of abolishing the use of capital punishment in countries across the globe. “Pope Francis stressed that there can be no humane way of carrying out a death sentence. For Christians, he says, all life is sacred because every one of us is created by God, who does not want to punish one murder with another, but rather wishes to see the murderer repent. Even murderers, he went on, do not lose their human dignity and God himself is the guarantor.” Quoting Russian Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot”, he said “murder by legal sentence is immeasurably more terrible than murder by brigands.”
Pope Francis’ recent address to the US Congress, in which he made a forceful plea for the abolition of the death penalty, is also noteworthy.
I was pleased to note that in his address at the opening of the Law Term (September 16, 2015), Chief Justice Ivor Archie called for a serious and meaningful national debate on the mandatory death penalty for murder. He said: “…The question whether we have a mandatory death penalty or any death penalty at all is a matter for the legislature and the people of T&T, but as the ones who pass the death sentences, we must ask, is there a sense of futility in doing so?” At the opening of the Law Term in 2012 he had said that he is “yet to find a convincing argument in favour of the death penalty”.
To date there is no empirical evidence to determine a link between crime rates and the application of the death penalty.
On World Day Against the Death Penalty, let us commit to working to develop strategies to reduce crime; change the culture of revenge and violence; and promote Restorative Justice, peace and harmony. Let us pray that T&T and Barbados will remove the mandatory death penalty from their criminal codes, and that our English-speaking Caribbean countries will either abstain or vote in favour of the moratorium at the next UN meeting on this issue.
I end with the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “There is no justice in killing in the name of justice and no godliness in exacting vengeance.”
