Man, Wayne Munroe is simply brilliant!
I must say that there is some reasoning to his seemingly mad statements; he is not simply just ‘talking fool!’
His statements fostered reaction and much needed debate and commentary regarding the social acceptance of the death penalty.
It seems as if every Bahamian is in support of the death penalty as of late, including the prime minister, and every ‘jook-jook’ clergyman in The Bahamas. But not one of them is actually willing to put their shoulders to the wheel to push to make it happen.
I say, if you are in support of something, support it fully! Bring ya pop corn/candy bar to watch the spectacle. Wear ya T-shirt and sign up to get your membership card. Don’t just talk a good talk, walk the mile, and witness the last seconds of a dead man walking and rejoice when his eyes turn over. Shout, “thank God!” when his neck pops. Seethe within his pain, (remembering the pain which he had inflicted upon his victims) as he gasp for breath.
When we as a people are able to appreciate the actual act, then the process becomes easier.
CN
Bar Association President Wants Public Hangings
Bar Association President Wayne Munroe, a prominent defense attorney, is in full support of hangings and in fact would like to see public executions.
Mr. Munroe also told The Bahama Journal that he saw nothing wrong with the mandatory application of the death penalty. His statement came just over a week after the Privy Council ruled that the mandatory death sentence in The Bahamas is unconstitutional.
“If you want to say that somebody isn’t deserving of death because of [his or her] character or something, that’s something that calls for the application of mercy,” he said. “I don’t have a difficulty with the death penalty.”
The Bar Association president said there are good reasons to keep the death penalty and it has nothing to do with deterring crime because it has been proving that executions do not serve as a deterrent.
“It’s cheaper than keeping people in jail for an extended period of time,” Mr. Munroe said.
“That’s a consideration when you look at the government having limited resources. Do you spend those resources to house people who really should be put to death, who aren’t fit to live in society, or do you spend [those resources] on education and health for the rest of society?”
It cost an estimated $10,000 to support each prisoner at Her Majesty’s Prison, according to national security officials, who say there are approximately 1,500 prisoners at the facility, including those on remand.
Mr. Munroe said another good reason for the death penalty to remain law in The Bahamas is that “it satisfies the revenge sentiment in people.”
“So the state takes revenge on your behalf rather than you have to personally take revenge,” Mr. Munroe said.
“I think there should be public executions, and I personally think that the way the Taliban used to do it in Afghanistan is to be preferred - public executions by members of the aggrieved families. I don’t think the Bahamian people would have the stomach for that. I think if you do that the death penalty would be off the book fairly quickly.”
Asked what would be the benefits of public executions, Mr. Munroe explained, “We’re executing in the name of the state. Why prevent the state’s citizens who choose to witness it from witnessing it? For what purpose are you doing it?
“For those who talk about deterrence, how do you deter people by something they don’t see? If retribution is it, how do I feel retribution and I haven’t witnessed it?”
The Bar Association president suggested that if someone supports hanging, he or she should not have a problem witnessing it.
“If you cannot stomach what the state is doing on your behalf, it’s because you have a problem with it,” he said. “If you can’t sit and watch what is being done on your behalf, it’s because you fundamentally have a problem with it. I could sit and watch it because I fundamentally do not have a problem with it.”
But Mr. Munroe recognized that the appeals process could easily take five years or more, which would mean that a convict would never hang given that the Privy Council has ruled that executing anyone after he or she has been under the sentence of death for five years or more would be cruel and inhuman punishment.
Approximately half of the 28 men on death row at the prison have been there for five years or more, including Forrester Bowe and Trono Davis on whose behalf the appeal challenging the mandatory death sentence was brought.
The Bahamas hanged 50 men since 1929, according to records kept at Her Majesty’s Prison. Five of them were hanged under the Ingraham administration; 13 were hanged under the 25-year rule of the Pindling government; and the others were executed between 1929 and 1967.
Last week, attorney Damian Gomez, who is also a government senator, said that all of the men hanged since 1973 were hanged unconstitutionally. He made the comment after the recent Privy Council ruling said the mandatory death sentence is unconstitutional in The Bahamas.
No one has been hanged since David Mitchell met his fate at the gallows in January 2000.
While many legal scholars believe The Bahamas will end up abolishing the death penalty before anyone else is executed, many people participating in the national discussion fueled by the recent Privy Council ruling continue to call on the government to read death warrants.
Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said week before last that the cases of all death row inmates - and there are 28 - will be remitted to the Supreme Court for the sentences to be reconsidered.
However, the attorney general assured that in cases where murder convicts are sentenced to death, the Government of The Bahamas would move swiftly to ensure that their executions are carried out.
Prime Minister Perry Christie stated his support for capital punishment in January, but indicated that his government could make no movement in that regard because the mandatory death sentence appeal was at the time still outstanding.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
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