(JollofNews) – Justice Hassan Babucarr Jallow, is back as the Chief Justice of the
Republic of the Gambia. It was he who, as Attorney General and Minister of Justice back in the 1980s abolished the death penalty in The Gambia.
I am sure he is poised to do the same again, not least because the European Union will make abolition of the death penalty a condition of financial support to the new government. Abolition of the death penalty is also a matter of principle for many in Gambia’s new government, not least because of the disgraceful and atrocious way that Yahya Jammeh killed those Mile 2 prisoners in 2012.
But the question must be asked: in a poor developing country like the Gambia, can we afford not to have the death penalty?
The question was brought to my mind yesterday and today by two pieces of news, one from Guinea when I saw a video of people killing three robbers who were forcefully taken from police custody by the vengeful crowd; and here in London when a man, who had already served 11 years for a previous murder, was sent to jail today for 15 years – for a second murder of a 21-year old young father.
The initial impetus for the abolition of the death penalty was the argument that the conviction for murder may be arrived at wrongly (I think the last person to be hanged in UK has been pardoned because his innocence has been proved posthumously).
The second argument against the death penalty is a simple moral one: the Bible says “thou shall not kill” and some argue that this applies to the state itself too.
The third argument is that “the death penalty is counter-productive” – look at USA where the one Western country with the death penalty also has the highest homicide rate.
And finally, the fourth argument against the death penalty is that even the worst of people can be rehabilitated to lead a useful life and contribute to society. There was a famous murderer in Scotland whom I met many years ago at his Project working with youth offenders. He had married the daughter of a “Lord”, a doctor and prison psychologist who had fallen in love with this murderer and did much to give him a new lease of life.
You can read the full article here.
NO!
We are too few to start killing each other.
God Bless The Gambia
Well, I have flip flopped on this one, but I would say, “No” now, given what Jammeh did and how he did it.
Maximum penalty should be life behind bars, with no option of parole, except under strictest of conditions, including blessing/ consent of victim’s family.
Bax; You surprise me; Are you suggesting The Tariff for murder should be set by the decision of the victim’s family? I have never been in favour of capital punishment, except for terrorist crimes against the innocent and premeditated murder against children. Though I doubt the death sentence would deter either the terrorist or the child killer. I would go for this on the basis of revenge for the families. I would give further consideration to the killing of an unarmed member of the Police.
No, I’m suggesting that victims’ families should be involved when a person responsible for the death of their loved one is to be considered for release. It’s very difficult for families to see “killers” of their loved ones released from prison, with plenty of life still to live.
I remember the case of a mixed couple whose 25 year old son was killed by an 18 year old, driving through a red light, at over 100mph. He got to serve minimum 10 years and would be out by age 28, 3 years older than his victim and the family didn’t think that was justice. In a case like that, would it be right to ignore the family’s grieve and release the prisoner, after just 10 years, to go and live his life to the fullest? It’s something the justice systems need to look at.
Life imprisonment is just enough. The constitution must be the master in condemning the guilty to life imprisonment. We are just human so we can’t rule out the possibility of a family conspiring to murder it’s own and seeking parole for the assigned murderer.
Death penalty doesn’t keep crime rates down. The more it is upheld in countries the more cold-blooded murderers and the more people become heartless and monstrous.
Death penalty should be abolished in the Gambia irrespective of the Gambia’s socioeconomic status or prospects of financial support of the E.U. The E.U only needs to give more regards to the human rights of African citizens in their communities. There might be six million ways to die different from death penalty and we simply don’t need any of them.
Bourne: “…we can’t rule out the possibility of a family conspiring to murder” … in revenge for murder, so applying the death sentence extra-judicially. The extra-ordinarily high rate of homicide in South-Side Chicago is indeed driven by revenge for a previous murder. Even in The Gambia look at the emotions running high at the recent court hearing of Solo Sandeng’s alleged murderers – a larger more angry crowd might have over-powered the police and killed the alleged murderers. Could the situation become worse if we went along with Dr. Sarr’s noble sentiment and simply said NO! to the death penalty? Will people take revenge because the State denies them Justcie? Remember that both the Bible and the Koran says Justice means “An Eye For An Eye and A Tooth For A Tooth”!
Dormu Rewwum Gambia (aka Luntango Suun Gann Gi), I’m sure it also says “turn the other cheek”!
LoL, Nice one Grim Reaper. But … I was referring to the original Bible, the Ethiopian one … not the “New Testament” given to you by the White Man asking the slaves to “turn the other cheek”! Now answer that!
Dormu Rewwum Gambia (aka Luntango Suun GannGi) , Lol, OK sir, thanks for putting me straight on that one! But I was told that the new testament was written before the old testament, was I correctly informed?
Bax; I understand your statement; Certainly long term “lifers” apply for parole many times, but the parole board take many factors into account including what is in the best interest of society. Unless you’re in the category of “The Moors Murderers” or The Yorkshire Ripper, The only people who truly serve a life sentence is the families of the victim/s. I think the other factor at play is the respective prison conditions and mental health of the lifer. Human rights applies to everyone. Another is the Lifers attempts or request to commit suicide. Another is the age of the murderer/s when children kill other children. In the case of Mark Bulger..
Over the years the EU have invested heavily in African courts to hear the crimes of Rulers or their officials/military committing crimes against the people. The ICC for example come in for massive criticism for apparent discrimination against Africans as the majority of well publicised cases are African. With particular reference to the court in Senegal. Revenge killings still fall under the capital crime of Murder as in the case of American law concerning 1st 2nd or 3rd degree Murder. Where it can get ridiculous is the recent case of two American murderers whose executions were brought forward as the lethal injections used were due to expire their” use by date” under health and safety law. It is claimed that one of these men had a difficult death that took over an hour.
Then of course their was the case of Mrs Samba a Senegalese Mother who was executed by Mr Jammeh who in a fit of rage threw boiling water over her husband. I would suggest this lady would have had a soundly arguable case for her sentence to be reduced to Manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The father’s death and Mrs Samba’s execution left their children parentless. Thereby giving their children a”death” sentence.
So this raises other issues not least, does The Gambia have the expertise and Judicial safeguards to ensure executions should not lay solely in the Hands of The President? Of course this another Constitutional issue. We must also consider the mental heath issues of those who carry out these executions on behalf of society. Not least the recent case of a British soldier who shot dead a wounded terrorist. Also a similar case in Israel which commanded international attention.
I think the only guiding factor in all these complex cases must be the Judiciary, their application of the Law and their supreme judgement.