At Tuesday’s Cabinet press briefing, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre told reporters that he has heard many Saint Lucians calling for the reintroduction of capital punishment – a request he says he receives almost daily.
“Every day, someone tells me to bring back hanging, every day,” Pierre said.
Choice TV reporter Kishana Smith asked the Prime Minister to respond to the growing public calls for bringing back capital punishment. These calls have increased after the murder of 24-year-old Joy St Omer, whose estranged husband later turned himself in to police, and because of wider concerns about rising crime in the country.
A petition titled “Petition to Reinstate and Active-enforce Capital Punishment for Capital Murder and Heinous Offences in Saint Lucia” was created on May 21. It had collected 7,924 signatures at the time of writing.
Pierre said the issue should be handled carefully and did not take a clear position on whether capital punishment should be reinstated.
“I will not venture to give an opinion now, I can’t,” Pierre stated. Reflecting on the complexities surrounding the issue, and the fact that not all sectors of society support such a judicial change, he added: “The Catholic Church opposes capital punishment, you’re aware of that? So, it’s a very complex issue and it’s not an issue that you can just proclaim on, at this point, I’m not willing to say.”
Petition organisers say they intend to submit a formal letter to members of parliament outlining their concerns and urging lawmakers to consider reinstating the death penalty, amid public calls for harsher penalties and additional reforms within the justice system.
Punishment has four main aims:
To reform, to deter, to prevent others from committing similar offenses either through death or imprisonment, and retribution. Of these four aims, the only one which can be safely said that the death penalty does not achieve is to reform, therefore three out of four is not bad!