Montego Bay, St James – Human rights group Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) has thrown cold water on Opposition spokesman on security Derrick Smith’s promise that a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government would speed up the justice system in order to resume hanging.

“Whatever the final penalty is that we are speaking about, the flaws in the system preceding that are really where the focus needs to be,” said the group’s chairperson, Susan Goffe. “You still have to investigate the crime, apprehend and arrest the persons, collect the evidence which would be used in a trial and have a trial proceed to obtain a conviction.”

According to Goffe, until the whole system was fixed, seeking to implement a punishment was the wrong focus. “Until we have fixed the whole of the rest of that, to talk about the final punishment is, in essence, the wrong focus.”

She maintained, however, that JFJ did not have an organisational position on the death penalty and that individual members had their own opinions. “There are those who support retaining the death penalty and those who support its abolition,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Smith promised Thursday night at a forum in Montego Bay that any incoming JLP administration would speed up the court system to ensure that persons sentenced to death would be able to make all their appeals at the various levels in the allotted five-year period.

The forum was organised by the JLP-affiliate group of young professionals, G2K, to discuss the escalating crime problem in the tourist resort city.

“Our position is that the law must take its course,” Smith told a full conference hall at the Montego Bay Civic Centre.

He further argued that while it was still undecided whether hanging was a deterrent to crime, a significant percentage of Jamaicans wanted it to be resumed. “An incoming JLP administration will do whatever it takes to speed up the justice system as it shows that the law of the land can be imposed,” Smith said.

Smith further maintained that the JLP was committed to rebuilding the police force, by finding the $6-billion necessary to equip the police with the necessary resources they needed to effectively fight crime. He also promised that a JLP government would give the commissioner of police the power to dismiss corrupt cops and implement harsher penalties for repeat offenders.

“We are going to make the portfolio of national security a priority in our budget for the first three years of our administration,” he said.

He noted that the country had seen one after another crime plan fail to restore order, simply because of a lack of resources.

“There’s not enough resources to make the crime plans work, they need a sustained effort,” said Smith.