The Editor Sir:

As legislators gear up to cast their conscience votes on the resumption of the death penalty, their collective conscience must be mindful, as well, of the system on which their sweeping and indelible ballots will be based.

It is not unusual that Jamaica's spike in violent crimes has revived debate on capital punishment. Jamaica is approaching the new year with more than 4,000 murders on the books over the last three years. Of equal gravity and concern, however, are the entrenched deficiencies, corruption and disparity that characterise Jamaica's justice system; rogue cops and their particular brand of policing; and the blatantly inequitable manner in which crime is prosecuted in this country.

We know our weaknesses

Given what we know about these weaknesses, our policymakers are heading the debate in the wrong direction, should they reinstate such an ultimate measure in a system so fettered and fractured. Human error, injustices, biases and personal ideologies create problems that have caused the rejection of the death penalty among countries that too have debated its revival in the wake of spikes in serious violent crimes.

Should Parliament ratify the resumption of capital punishment in Jamaica, it will be among the very few countries, outside of Sri Lanka, perhaps, that have lifted a moratorium or brought capital punishment back after having abolished it. Further, capital punishment is expensive and a legal labyrinth that will lead to staggering taxpayer expense and years of irresolution. Given the global economic forecast, this will become a particularly hard pill for Jamaicans to swallow in hard economic times.

The world's media, international human-rights organisations, the new United States administration, under President-elect Barrack Obama, indeed all countries and peoples of conscience, will be watching Jamaica as it casts its vote on a practice that even in the United States is signalling a gradual movement towards abolition across the board.

Ironically, Parliament will answer to its conscience on the cusp of the 60th anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights and the December visit to Jamaica by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, its first on-site visit to an English-speaking Caribbean country since 1994, and the first visit by a global human-rights organisation on the invitation of Prime Minister Bruce Golding. Oh to be a fly on the wall for that discussion!

Fixing the systemic failings of Jamaica's justice system, while it sounds logical, is searching for the Holy Grail. The chance of achieving faultless government is non-existent, and the same holds true for the quest for perfect justice. The frailties and deficiencies in Jamaica's justice system and policing practices will not magically vanish when Parliament casts its final vote on the proposed crime bills. Capital punishment, therefore, cannot be implemented with any sense of balance or fairness, thus it must remain abolished.

I am, etc.,

D.A.G.