Once again, the People's Partnership Government is trying to pass laws that would lead to the resumption of hanging in our country. The public outcry over the upsurge in crime and murders has included the call to punish those found guilty of murder with death. The death penalty, however, is a very tricky and controversial issue, and it must be understood that hanging is not the answer to crime at all. What is needed is a holistic and comprehensive approach to tackling the causes of crime and trying to nip the problem in the bud.
The death penalty, in general, has sparked widespread debate not only in Trinidad and Tobago but around the world. Countries that carry out the death penalty include the US, China and Iran. The effectiveness and morality of hanging is a matter open to fierce and intense debate.
On the one hand, there is a national outcry against crime, and I would hazard a guess that most people want hanging. To use the idea of democracy in its most rudimentary form, it would be fair to say that the masses want hanging, so we should be hanging convicted murderers.
The problem, however, arises with the tyranny of the majority. Simply put, we cannot allow public policy, especially issues that deal with something as fundamental as life and death to be decided by the whims of the masses. After all, the masses did not want slavery to end nor women to vote.
Away from the moral dilemmas of hanging, which have been discussed ad nauseum, the real question is how effective is hanging as a tool in tackling crime. It seems, as of now, the narrative that is being espoused is that if we start to hang people, somehow crime will disappear. It is crucial that we guard against this quick-fix solution that we are so prone to embrace.
Firstly, who are we going to hang? There have been thousands of murders over the past decade, and the numbers of people on Death Row are quite small. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that more than 80 per cent of murderers have never been caught. The levels of detection in Trinidad and Tobago are extremely low, and the levels of conviction are more dismal. So, for a moment, if we were to imagine that we could hang people, there would be no real change in the murder rates since most killers are never caught.
In addition, we have to be concerned about our image as a country on the world stage. I can guarantee that our international reputation would take a beating if we were to start to hang people. First off, I don't think we will be enticing tourists or investors by telling them that we hang people. Secondly, we will fall further on the human rights index, and we are not doing very well with that at present.
The more interesting question is what is the plan to deal with other serious crimes? There has been an upsurge in reports of sexual assaults against children. I say "reports" because these things have been happening all the time; it is only that more of them are being reported.
What are we to do with the fully grown man who rapes a six-month-old baby? The masses would have him executed also, if the comments in the newspapers are anything to go by. We cannot, however, just arbitrarily hang people for rape. The same goes for grievous bodily harm and other serious crimes that enrage us. What are we going to do with these people, and how are we going to stop such crimes from recurring?
The solution, sadly, is not politically popular and will require a change in attitude and culture, something that we have shown we are very good at avoiding. Real change will come not from hanging the youth who happened to be caught but from investing in long-term measures, coupled with short-term, stop-gap programmes that get at the root of crime.
One of these is inequality. To use the argument of the social scientists, depressed and oppressed people are susceptible to act out because of their circumstances and fall prey to the lure of crime.
In the same breath, I must emphasise that the "big fish" crime lords who traffic in guns and drugs also need to be rounded up. It is not only the poor who are prone to crime. The rich and powerful are, also, just as guilty. We need to change our justice system to concentrate on restorative justice rather than retribution.
By imprisoning a youth for possession of marijuana, they are putting a young person into a system that will turn out a hardened criminal. Justice should seek to help offenders make something of themselves and reintegrate into society.
By opting for programmes of community service, counselling and therapy instead of jail, we can save the economy millions and potentially produce good citizens. The stigma that is attached to former convicts also needs to be changed. This is perhaps a very difficult challenge as it requires a suppression of the human emotion of fear and the need for safety. Yes, there are some former convicts who are beyond saving, but many are people who made bad decisions and are remorseful. If they are willing to make amends and become good citizens, then they should not be denied a job or housing.
We have a serious problem, and we have a right to be afraid despite what the deluded Police Commissioner says. Hanging may provide us with vengeance, but it will not solve our crime problem. The social, economic and cultural roots of crime need to be destroyed, and only then can we hope to restore some sanity and peace to our nation.
—Rajiv Gopie won the President's Medal in 2006 for business/modern studies. He is an
MSc candidate in international relations
at the London School of Economics.
rajivgopie@hotmail.com
