Crime, punishment, lost faith in the judicial system and vigilante justice

What should be the punishment for crime?

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A FATHER, grieving over his dead daughter, yesterday condemned this country's highest court for restoring hope of a full life to the man who had brutally murdered her nine years earlier.

On Wednesday London's Privy Council removed the noose that had threatened the neck of Maxo Tido. Instead it sent him back to the Bahamas' Court of Appeal to fix an "appropriate sentence" for a murder they recognised as "appalling," but "not one which warrants the most condign punishment of death."

Tido was the first condemned man sentenced to be hanged by a judge after the Privy Council ruled that no longer could a jury's murder conviction result in an automatic death sentence. Rather a judge now had to consider the merits of each case and decide whether the evidence was such as to warrant death by hanging.

Supreme Court Justice Anita Allen ruled that the brutality of the 16-year-old girl's death merited no mercy for her killer-- he was to hang by the neck until dead. The Advisory Committee of the Prerogative of Mercy agreed, but stayed his execution until he could appeal to the Bahamas's highest court -- the Privy Council.

The results of this decision means a life sentence for Tido. However, it is now up to our legislators to redefine the meaning of "life" in cases such as this. In future "life" should no longer mean 25 years with good behaviour, but full life, with the prisoner leaving his cell only when the undertaker arrives to take him to the graveyard.

The dead girl's father warned that the Privy Council's decision could lead to vigilante justice if people continue to lose faith in the judicial system.

Unfortunately that faith has already been lost and, at least among the criminals, vigilante justice is on the rise.

National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest attributes 44 per cent of this year's murders to drugs. As the drug dealers squabble among themselves and settle their own scores with the gun, they are assisting the judicial system in clearing cases from the court's calendar.

For example, about two weeks ago a man accused of murder was released on bail by a judge. His trial was still pending. A week later he was dead -- shot by another who is "well known to the police," also presumably out on bail.

A few weeks ago a young man was shot in his hand in Fox Hill. If his tangled web is traced back a couple of years, two feuding factions can be found to be the root cause. They will probably gun it out until no man is left standing on either side. One side taking retaliatory measures against the other has resulted so far in at least three violent deaths in this case. This today is what is happening on our streets -- vigilante justice is alive and well.

A police officer commented a few days ago that last weekend was a quiet one on the crime front. He attributed it to the police's new strike force, which had rounded up at least 100 persons for various offences before the holiday weekend.

Opposition politicians like to accuse government for not taking crime seriously. This is nonsense. The government is doing its best, the police are doing their best, the community, where the problem lies, is yet to step up to the plate.

Opposition politicians claim they have the answer to reduce crime. If they have a secret weapon, they are guarding it closely. As far as the PLP are concerned Urban Renewal is the balm that will heal all. It had no healing charm when the PLP were in power, it would be interesting to know what makes the PLP think that it will be any different if they were returned as the government. They are trying to make the public believe that the Ingraham government killed Urban Renewal when it came to power. A redesigned urban renewal programme is still in place, however, it is no longer PLP-style.

The truth is no one --certainly no political party -- has the answer to how to reduce crime. The will of an angered people resolved to restore morality to their communities is the only power that can turn the tide. Until that day comes, the criminals will call the shots.

There are those who maintain that the death penalty is the most effective deterrent to crime. Others say it is life imprisonment. No one knows the answer. Proof hangs in the balance on either side of this complex question. When human nature is involved there is no answer that fits all.

The answer is not to rid ourselves of the Privy Council -- it is too important to this nation in many other ways. However, it is now up to Bahamians to make certain that when persons are convicted of such heinous crimes, all hope of returning to society is removed forever. This is probably the cruelest of all punishments.

June 17, 2011

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