It has happened again: the gruesome murder of another prominent Jamaican in Jamaica. Although there seems to be no end to reports of violent killings in the country, and every life lost to violent crime is a tragedy, the public’s reaction is always more profound and the outcry is much louder when the victim is a well-known member of society.
Such is the case with the recent murder of veteran Jamaican journalist and former specialist court reporter for the Jamaica Gleaner, Barbara Gayle. Ms. Gayle was found brutally stabbed at her home in Caymanas Estates, a gated community in St. Catherine.
The veteran journalist’s murder, like many other gruesome killings in Jamaica that happen far too frequently, has once again sparked calls from Jamaicans at home and in the diaspora for the death penalty—particularly hanging by the gallows—to be imposed as the ultimate sentence for those found guilty of such violent crimes.
Ironically, capital punishment or the death penalty is legal in Jamaica, but for the past several decades, no murder convict has been sentenced to death. Up until the 1970s, it was fairly routine for murderers to be sentenced to death. However, in 1980, the human rights entity Amnesty International sent a mission to Jamaica following an increase in executions.
In January 1979, the Jamaican House of Representatives voted by a narrow majority to retain capital punishment and unanimously recommended that all outstanding death sentences be reviewed. In February 1979, the Senate passed a resolution recommending that executions be suspended for another 18 months while another committee studied the issue. Although this second committee (the Fraser Committee on Capital Punishment and Penal Reform) sat from June 1979 to March 1981, executions resumed in August 1980.
The Jamaican government resists abolishing the death penalty because of the high rate of violent crime and public support for it. However, successive governments have resisted actually imposing the death penalty, not only because of opposition from Amnesty International but also from other human rights groups in Jamaica.
The last person executed in Jamaica was Nathan Foster, convicted of murder and hanged in 1988. The Jamaican Parliament placed a moratorium on the death penalty until 2009, when it was lifted. Since 2009, capital punishment has been legal, and executions could resume, but none have been carried out.
In 1999, a series of hangings—by some accounts, amounting to 50—were scheduled by the Jamaican government. Ultimately, after international protests, the executions were not carried out.
It was estimated in 2012 that seven or eight inmates in Jamaica were on death row. However, by 2018, this number had been reduced to zero, with no executions having taken place.
One reason for the appeal of the death penalty to the majority of Jamaicans is the persistent escalation of violent killings, seemingly without the imposition of this penalty.
In 2023, the government announced that the death penalty would be the automatic punishment for capital murder, and 45 years’ imprisonment is the minimum sentence for other homicides. However, even with incidents of very tragic, brutal killings, those convicted of these crimes have received sentences of up to 50 years incarcerated without parole or 45 years before consideration for parole, rather than death sentences.
Some people consider life sentences to be worse than death, especially when the sentence is served in penal institutions under harsh conditions. But several psychologists agree that humans are more fearful of death than being locked away for the remainder of their lives. “There is always hope when one knows there is no threat to their lives.”
The persistent incidents of gruesome, violent killings in Jamaica indicate that the perpetrators of these crimes have no real fear of the possibility of life sentences if found guilty. In fact, these crimes are committed so frequently and wantonly that it’s as if no penalties exist at all.
Punishments for crimes are theoretically imposed to serve as a deterrent and a means of preventing further crimes, as well as for rehabilitation. There is little evidence that the current punishments are serving to deter or prevent violent crimes in Jamaica.
The current and former Jamaican governments have tried various measures to deter violent crime, but these measures haven’t stopped the scourge. What’s missing is a type of punishment that drives fear in criminals and serves as a significant deterrent. It’s widely believed that reintroducing regular imposition and execution of the death penalty is the answer.
This solution may never receive the approval of Amnesty International or other human rights advocates, but Jamaica must put a stop to these violent killings. The government owes it to the Jamaican people to live their lives without fear of violent death at the hands of criminals. Perhaps starting to impose and execute the death penalty, even temporarily, will be the missing deterrent.
