GIAMAICA: CRIMINALITA', PREMIER RIVUOLE LA FORCA

KINGSTON, 2 DIC - Il primo ministro giamaicano, P.J. Patterson, si e' detto favorevole alla reintroduzione ''della forca'' per contrastare l'ondata di criminalita' violenta che sta insanguinando l'isola caraibica.

''Il popolo giamaicano e' sostanzialmente d'accordo nel ripristinare la PENA DI MORTE'', ha detto Patterson in un discorso televisivo. ''E noi siamo intenzionati ad ascoltare la voce del popolo'', ha aggiunto.

L'ultima esecuzione in Giamaica venne eseguita nel 1988, mediante impiccagione. Da allora, 52 persone sono state condannate a morte per omicidio e si trovano attualmente rinchiuse nei bracci della morte, secondo Amnesty international.

Dall'inizio dell'anno, 950 persone sono state assassinate nell'ex colonia britannica, che conta 2,6 milioni di abitanti.

World Politics

Jamaican prime minister calls for resuming death penalty as part of anti-crime plan

Dec 2, 2002 

 By HOWARD CAMPBELL, 

 KINGSTON, Jamaica - Security forces bulldozed derelict buildings in some of Kingston's toughest neighborhoods on Monday, a day after the prime minister pledged to root out Jamaica's violent crime, officials said.

 A special police squad began patrolling the areas in west Kingston and nearby south St. Andrew late Sunday, as Prime Minister P.J. Patterson announced a new crime-fighting initiative.

 Patterson also called for a resumption in executions in the Caribbean island country, saying he would seek a constitutional amendment to reintroduce hangings despite objections from the London-based Privy Council and human rights groups.

 "The Jamaican people are substantially agreed on the need to resume the death penalty," Patterson said in a televised address.

 The council, the highest court of appeals for many former British colonies, opposes capital punishment and has quashed many death sentences it has reviewed on appeal.

 The last execution carried out in Jamaica was in 1988. Since then, at least 52 prisoners have been sentenced to death for murder, according to Amnesty International.

 Support for the death penalty has increased as Jamaica struggles with high crime and violence blamed largely on a burgeoning drug trade. But local and international human rights groups argue executing prisoners will do little to stop crime.

 More than 950 people on the island of 2.6 million have been murdered this year.

 While much of Jamaica, including tourist resorts, is peaceful, tensions run deep in the capital where politicians used street gangs in the 1970s and 1980s to rustle up votes. Since then, street gangs have garnered a measure of independence by earnings from drug-trafficking, but many maintain political allegiance to the major rival parties.

 During its patrol Monday of west Kingston, security forces made up of police officers and military troops destroyed two buildings where there have been several murders since the Oct. 17 general elections that gave Patterson's People's National Party an unprecedented fourth straight term.

 Police said the razed buildings in Hannah Town were a stronghold for those who support the governing party, and those destroyed in Denham Town were a base of those loyal to the main opposition Jamaica Labor Party.

 Deputy Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas said Monday neighborhood residents were pleased with the buildings' destruction.

 Patterson announced the new elite security squad on Sunday, saying it would be comprised of police and defense force officers and would target areas where there were persistent clashes.

 "The mission is to get the guns out of the hands of these criminals and strengthen the protection and human rights of law-abiding citizens in this country," he said.