I like when my elected leaders take charge and take responsibility. More so, as a thinking Jamaican, it is always good when they show logic by telling us what they hope to achieve in taking particular decisions. The lingering waste of time in Parliament and the undeclared position of both the prime minister and leader of Opposition on the death penalty, remind me of the recently concluded one-day cricket series against Pakistan and the failed Reggae Boyz campaign. Great show for the audience, but just not enough time, and certainly not enough balls. But later for the captain and his crew.

In 1993, a ruling by the Privy Council in the case involving Earl Pratt and Ivan Morgan, there was a determination that it was cruel and inhuman punishment to have persons on death row languishing for more than five years. However, there is another side to that and not all legal minds agree with the judgement. One minority judge argued that it cannot be seen as punishment when someone who is already 'dead' is given even a few more days to live, much less an entire five years.

Follow the prime minister and put it to your conscience vote, or rather, do what Parliament is not doing, and think. If you were condemned to die in June, what would you prefer, to get your neck popped right on time, or to be allowed to delay your fate for five or even 10 more years, while you are allowed to get your occasional visit from your family, see or hear about your children growing up and to get a chance to make something of the limited scope of life that you have left?

Death despite appeals

American jurisprudence does not seem to subscribe to the philosophy contained in Pratt v Morgan, because Stanley 'Tookie' Williams was on death row since 1981, but despite appeals and apparent rehabilitation, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger showed why he was called 'The Terminator' as he refused to give him clemency and Tookie was killed by the state in 2005.

Tookie was one of the founders of the Cripps, a gang network which wears blue and is not unlike those 'posses' that are aligned to the two main Jamaican political parties. He was convicted of three murders and being the powerful man that he was, could have ordered hits from behind bars. However, he 'reformed' and wrote anti-gang children's books and brokered a peace treaty between the Cripps and their enemies the red-wearing Bloods. Outgoing President George W. Bush even gave him a 'Call to Service Award'.

My problem with the 'eyes wide shut' parliamentarians is that they should be concentrating on fixing the problem that got us in this dilemma in the first place. Did anyone even wonder, why couldn't executions be carried out in five years? If we had an efficient justice system, then there would be no question of a five-year hold on us. Therefore, any sensible observer would recognise that we simply need to correct the flaws in this lame system of justice and not try to tinker with the Constitution.

Shameless nonsense

True, we have a major crime problem and with the recent kidnappings and recalcitrant killings, we sense a sort of impotence among the lawmakers. However, when we hear the quality of their presentations, one wonders whether there were 'electile' malfunctions, because their arguments don't stand up to scrutiny. We have an apparent indecent haste to kill someone to appease the masses in a national bloodlust and the blood has clearly rushed away from the most vital organ: the brain. What shameful nonsense! Here are some of the utterances: accused persons must be automatically found guilty if witnesses are killed; those opposed to the death penalty are legislating murder; throw the murderers from an airplane and drown them.

Then one of the oldest and one of the youngest clearly have the same departure of the intellect, sounding very upset that murder convicts consume more per year than most public servants make. And so? There are only eight men on death row and if we want to raise the economic argument to its illogical conclusion, then let us execute the rapists as well and the attempted murderers. In Islamic states, this is condign punishment. By the way, when since have politicians become so concerned over saving public money? Far more capital has been lost via cronyism, nepotism and sheer political corruption than is spent in accommodating the 3,584 inmates in all our prisons.

There is at least one person right now, who has been sentenced to death, who, according to a former policeman who was involved in the investigations leading to his arrest, is innocent.

No fear for noose

Our criminals do not fear any hangman's noose because they will not be caught. People will not inform to the police because they fear reprisals and more, they don't trust the police to keep the information confidential. That has to be fixed. Just check the murder statistics: Fewer than 30 per cent of homicides get cleared up by the police each year. So, "Eef yu cyant ketch dem, how you goin' kry dem a court?" Then as stated in last week's and an earlier column, only around 30 per cent of murder accused get convicted. What does this say? Do we have a 70 per cent innocence rate, or is it the ineptitude of law and court officers?

By the way, where did the 'gunoholism' come from? Why and how did political garrisons become formed? And how could anyone feel confident enough to 'violate' in the former One Don's party conference and 'pop off' firearms? Did they believe that they would be apprehended?

Ask them and then vote.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work, UWI. Feedback may be sent to orville.taylor.uwimona.edu.jmor columns@gleanerjm.com.