KINGSTON, Jamaica — Member of Parliament for St Mary Western Robert Montague has doubled down on his call for the resumption of hanging for people found guilty of crimes which attract the death penalty.

Making his contribution to the 2024/25 State of Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday Montague, who has long been an advocate for the death penalty, urged his colleagues to back his stance.

“Madam, I am saddened by the recent multi and mass killings in our country. The gains made in the fight against crime must be protected, if we re-introduce hanging it will be,” said Montague.

“We must have no pity on these dutty, wutliss criminals. We must have pity on the victims and their families. Let us hang dem or heng dem.  As long as they are dead and dem teet kin, we can call it anything. Hanging must be reintroduced without delay. It is the only real deterrent to murder in Jamaica,” added Montague.

In January Montague used the opening of the debate on penalties for capital and non-capital murders in the House of Representatives to voice his call for the resumption of hanging.

The former minister of national security frequently interrupted his colleague Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck’s presentation on the review of the Criminal Justice Administrative Amendment Act 2023, the Offences against the Person Act 2023 and the Childcare and Protection Act 2023, with the quip, “hang dem Delroy”.

In response Chuck said, “No, we are not going to hang them,” and declared that he doesn’t believe in hanging.

Not satisfied with that response Montague warned, “Well yuh only a waste yuh time then”.

While capital punishment remains on the books in Jamaica, the country’s last state sanctioned execution was in 1988.

Legal hurdles imposed by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council in 1993 — when ruled that it was inhumane and degrading to hang someone after more than five years on death row — have meant that the death sentence has not been imposed in Jamaica since then.

Last November Prime Minister Andrew Holness indicated that his view on the penalty for murder has evolved, given the barbarity of the acts of criminals who, he said, “have no heart”.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet media briefing Holness said then these criminals must be removed from society, and the highest possible penalty imposed on those who commit murder.

“I was never a supporter of the death penalty, but the more I study this matter and begin to understand the minds of the criminals, there are no souls there, (and) they have no heart,” declared Holness.

He added: “They need to be removed from among us, but I am not here to get into a debate about jurisprudence on this matter,” added Holness.

— Arthur Hall