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| Sunday, 23 February 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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To hang or not to hang...? by Karel Roberts Ratnaweera and Jayampathy Jayasinghe An attempt to revive the death penalty in Sri Lanka followed closely on
the heels of a recent landmark decision in the US by Illinois By sparing the lives of the 163 men and four women, it now means that they will not have to serve a collective 2000 years for the murders committed. Governor Ryan who signed the reprieves just 48 hours before his own term of office ended, said that he had realised capital punishment was morally wrong, so he had made the decision even at the last minute in what could be read by some as a change of heart in a bid to salve his own moral conscience. After the breaking of the reprieve story from Illinois, and weeks before the announcement that Interior Minister John Amaratunga was in favour of the death penalty being re-implemented in Sri Lanka (Room for the implementation of the death penalty exists in the country's Statute books but no executions have been carried out since 1976) the Sunday Observer sought the opinion of a former Commissioner of Prisons C.T. Jansz who said that he was against capital punishment because nowhere did it act as a deterrent to crime, especially such as murders on sudden provocation. Gruesome contract killings and other heinous murders could be backed by strong forces capable of interfering with the process of the law at all levels. The importance of persons involved in such crimes also went a long way in the outcome of such cases, he said. Governor Ryan had commented that often it was the convicted individual without influence, political or whatever, who went to the gallows-a view that former Commissioner Jansz agreed with. He also said that a more practical point of view would be the certainty of immediate arrest followed by unhampered, clear investigations. Those people with serious mental problems who are to be seen walking the streets aimlessly should be constantly monitored . Those in the condemned cells at Welikade whose cases have been dealt with are sent out on bail and then go back to prison. Speedy trials Former Commissioner Jansz said that the higher quality of prison officials should stick to rules; there is a professional way of dealing with prisoners in their care, he said. He believes that there should be speedy trials in all cases. He also said that crime is on the increase due to economic reasons and emotional problems in the home and workplace. He quoted Britain's wartime (and later) prime minister Winston Churchill who said that the quality of people could be judged by the quality of treatment meted out to convicts. The former Commissioner also referred to drug-related crimes which are also on the increase. He related such incidents to the poor social conditions. In the year 1915, also in the US, Governor Lee Cruce of the State of Oklahoma, spared the lives of 22 persons while Governor Winthrop Rockefeller reprieved 15 persons in 1970. According to Cook County's State Attorney Richard Devine said on that occasion that what Rockefeller had undermined the system of criminal justice tremendously. The families of the victims were made to believe that a decision would be based on a careful review of the evidence in each case. 'That obviously did not happen,' the State Attorney said. At a forum in Colombo a few years ago, it was discussed that contract killings were rampant where murders were committed for cash rewards. Prison records show that 40 percent of the inmates languishing in prisons countrywide have been convicted on drug offences. Buddha Jayanti However, it may be recalled that in 1956, the Bauddha Balamandalaya passed a resolution and requested the government to postpone executions during the Buddha Jayanti celebrations. That same year, a Bill to suspend capital punishment was passed by a majority of four in the Senate and in 1958, the House of Representatives passed a Bill to suspend capital punishment. When the death sentence was to be reviewed three years ago by the PA government, the then Minister of Justice Prof. G.L. Peiris said that the Sri Lankan Law consistently recognised the imposition of the death sentence in respect of certain grave crimes and it was never eliminated from the Statute books. However, the death sentence has not been carried out for more than 20 years. Due to the increase in crimes it has become necessary to consider the re-imposition and carrying out of the death sentence in certain cases. As the law of capital punishment has not been expunged from Sri Lanka's Statute books, only the Head of State, in this case the President of Sri Lanka, can sanction death sentence being carried out in any particular case. The famous US Supreme Court Judge, Harry Blackman, stated in a dissent in 1994: 'I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.' |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Governor
George Ryan to grant reprieves to all 167 death row prisoners awaiting
execution for the murders of more than 250 people- a decision that has
created a furore in the US, leaving prosecutors, politicians and relatives
of the inmates in a state of uncertainty.
