A LOCAL religious leader, who is suggesting that Barbados has gone soft on crime, wants Government to resume hanging for convicted killers.
However, Reverend Paul Leacock of the First Baptist Church, Constitution Road, The City, told The Barbados Advocate during an interview that while Barbados’ murder rate continues to climb, Barbadians must be mindful that there are provisions in the Bible for the State to order capital punishment whenever necessary.
“Every option needs to be weighed in arresting the situation, including capital punishment. All have to be weighed and considered in the best interest of the public and in the cause of justice,” Reverend Leacock declared.
He said that there are some people who argue that capital punishment is not a deterrent to murder, but noted that in his opinion, “it certainly will prevent some people from repeating murder”.
“Everybody is not going to be willing to face their fate if they are being killed. There are some people who have killed and are out on bail and most likely will do it again.
“Definitely, we have to make sure justice prevails. We can’t have forced confessions as was reported recently in the press where persons are being convicted on confessions that may not have been volunteered, that may not have come without duress.
“We can’t have that and I will not support that. But when it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt, it is in the scripture that the State is authorised what is legally on the books as capital punishment.”
Leacock explained that the Church is governed by the principle tenets of the word of God, and although Christians may be divided on the issue, capital punishment is not unbiblical.
However, the Reverend stressed that this form of punishment should be best administered in a society where there is justice.
“As long as there can be a clear proven fact that persons have committed egregious crimes, there is much precedent in the scripture that they pay with their own lives,” he said.
The religious leader noted while groups, including Amnesty International, are strongly against capital punishment, “and may tell me that I am barbaric, Amnesty International needs to pay attention to what is happening in the United States”.
“It is easy to come to small states and bring the level of pressure and the level of scrutiny and to say that you are third world.
“But, they do not bring the resources to deal with the social cost of dealing with that kind of egregious [act]. When you are having multiple murders and killing, we cannot sustain that,” he affirmed.
Last Friday morning, Barbados recorded the fifth murder for the month and the 19th for the year thus far, compared to the total of approximately 22 for 2016.
Reverend Leacock said the spike in crime, which is as a result of lawlessness, indifference to life and callousness, are sociological problems that are being fed by many issues, including a distressed economy, lack of jobs, fatherlessness in the home and lack of discipline.
He said a cultural penetration where young people are now exposed to the good, bad and ugly on the Internet, is also attacking Barbados’ traditional moral values.
Leacock indicated that because the youth want to copy and adopt negative lifestyles from other societies, they are practising it in communities.
“However, we are not beyond redemption. There are more young people going to school. There are more young people doing well than the few that are making the situation look horrendous,” he said.
“That is not to say that these kinds of incidences must not be arrested. We certainly have to do something about what is happening and we have to become more aggressive and more strident.
“We have to address unemployment and we have to look at our education system and see what we are turning out. It is not enough any longer to just certify people. Academic qualification is no longer enough. We have to diversify our education product, so that young people are being qualified for the market. We have to come together as a society and look at so many things,” the Reverend added. (AH)