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Government Senator Dr. Saphire Longmore says priority must be given to resuming the death penalty in Jamaica to stop the killing of children.
Speaking Monday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM, Dr. Longmore said the murder of children is a public health crisis and legislators must treat the issue as an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic.
"What is going to be the greatest consequence of someone who tortures and murders a child? They're going to probably languish in prison and get parole after some decades, maybe. We need to make it such that it is practical and it is applicable... Put it as the priority, just like how we had emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic and within two-twos, what was necessary to be done to protect the public [was done]," she suggested.
Last Monday, two nine-year-old boys and a man were killed in Salt Spring, St. James when a taxi in which they were travelling was shot up by gunmen.
The incident has since reignited discussion on the death penalty.
At a press conference last week, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said his view on the penalty for murder has evolved, given the barbarity of the acts of criminals.
Dealth penalty not the answer
But human rights advocate and Anglican priest, Father Sean Major-Campbell, believes the death penalty is not the answer to addressing the systemic violence in the society.
"We should seek to become a more highly evolved society in terms of becoming a more peaceful people, becoming a better self, a better nation, recognising that modelling peace and love and rehabilitative approaches is going to be more wholesome than modelling violence to address a culture of violence," he reasoned.
Father Major-Campbell was also a guest on the Morning Agenda.
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