A recent editorial in the Amandala named "Sacrifice - the death Penalty option," discussed the issue of capital punishment - even though Belize has not had a death by hanging in 40 years. The editorial argued, quote, "it may be time that we seriously consider....a return to the death penalty as an option upon conviction for murder."
Well, a leading human rights attorney from a group named the Death Penalty Project and Belizean Senior Council Godfrey Smith have written a response.
They say that no one is being sentenced to the death penalty and it should be stricken from the books. They refer to the Jared Ranguy trial, where he was sentenced for killing three family members and write, quote,
"The truth is that this was one of the worst of the worst cases in Belize, one of the rarest of the rare - yet the death penalty was not imposed because there was evidence that Ranguy had prospects of rehabilitation...If the Ranguy case was not considered to merit the imposition of the death penalty, no other case will."
They add,
"Full abolition, not resumption of executions, is the direction of travel Belize should be taking. Many countries, like Belize, that have not executed over many years have moved to full abolition...the death penalty serves no purpose and is no more an effective deterrent than life or long-term imprisonment."
And they conclude,
"We note that neither the media nor the public in Belize regularly call for executions...Belize is the only country in central America to retain the death penalty. Within South America, only Guyana retains it. Belize is out of step, behind the curve and arguably, in breach of its international obligations to abolish the death penalty without delay."
We'll have an interview on this tomorrow.
